WHO’s Science in 5 on COVID-19 : Delta variant and vaccines

Hello and welcome to Science in 5.

I'm Vismita Gupta-Smith.

We are talking today about
the Delta variant and vaccines.

Dr Soumya Swaminathan, WHO's Chief
Scientist is our expert today.

Welcome, Soumya.

Our first question to you, Soumya,
is we know that the Delta variant

is more transmissible.

Please explain to us what kind of protection
we get from the current batch

of approved vaccines.

So we're talking here about the
Delta variant, which is the fourth variant

of concern described by WHO because it's
both more transmissible than the previous

variant and also has been able to resist the
antibodies that we have in our blood.

So what that means is that you need a higher
level of antibodies to overcome this variant

as compared to, let's say,
the Alpha variant.

Now, the good news is that all of the WHO
emergency use listed vaccines do protect

against developing severe disease,
hospitalization and death due to

the Delta variant.

So there are studies now from countries
where there is a predominance of Delta

variant to show that people who've been
vaccinated are much less likely to end

up in hospital.

And you need the full course of vaccination
in order to give you that full immunity

to protect you against the Delta variant.

So the important thing is if you have access
to a vaccine that's approved by WHO,

please do take it and take the full course
so that you can be protected both against

the Delta and other variants of COVID.

Soumya, explain to us please the level of
protection that you have if you have

received one dose of the
vaccine versus if you're fully vaccinated.

So the main goal of these vaccines is really
to prevent severe disease, because what we

want is for people, even if they get
the infection, is for them to recover

from it and not become seriously ill.

So that's something that all
of these vaccines do really well.

Of course, there are different levels.

You read about the efficacy trials.

They may range from 70 to 90%.

But in terms of just looking
at the prevention of severe disease

and hospitalization, they're all
very good, over 90% effective.

Again, they vary in
the protection against getting infection.

Ideally, you know, you'd like a vaccine
which completely prevents you from getting

infected therefore, you can't get ill.

But none of the vaccines that
we have currently are 100% protective.

So this is why even if you're vaccinated,
you can get the infection, but the chances

are you'll get a very mild symptoms or no
symptoms at all and that the chances

of getting seriously ill
are really, really low.

So Soumya, if we can still get infected and
also infect others even after we are

fully vaccinated, then why get vaccinated?

There're two very good reasons
to get vaccinated.

The first is to protect yourself from
getting severely ill if you

catch the infection.

We know that there's a certain proportion of
people of all age groups who do get severely

ill and you could have a
chance of dying from this disease.

And this is what we want to protect.

So that's why you want to
get vaccinated in the first place.

But secondly, if you get vaccinated
and yes, you may still get the infection

because we know that these vaccines are not
going to protect you

a 100% from the infection.

So there is a small risk you get infected
and you could pass it on to others.

Why do you want to
take the risk of doing that?

Why do you want to be
one person in the chain of transmission?

What we need to do in the world today is to
break those chains of transmission,

get a control on this disease.

So that's why we say get vaccinated as soon
as you can get access to your vaccine when

your turn comes and continue to take all the
precautions so that you are completely

protecting yourself as well
as protecting others around you.

Thank you Soumya.

That was Science in 5 today.

Until next time then, stay safe,
stay healthy and stick with science.