Delta variant 8 times more likely to escape immunity gained through vaccination or infections, says study

The second wave of corona in the country is slowly receding. In the first week of May, more than 4 lakh corona patients were registered in the country after which slowly the cases started dropping.

Now, less than 50,000 corona patients are found in the country every day. Vaccination needs to be stepped up to prevent a third wave. But a study published in the journal Nature has raised concerns.

As per study of Nature journal, a team of researchers from India and other countries has found that the Delta variant (or B.1.617.2 lineage) was eight times more likely to escape immunity gained through AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines compared to the original virus. Also, the Delta variant was six times more likely to re-infect people who have recovered from Covid-19.

The article, published in Nature, is written by researchers from around the world, including India. The first patient of the Delta variant was found in India late last year. This variant caused another wave of corona in the country.

According to research published by Nature, the Delta variant is eight times more capable of suppressing the immunity caused by the corona vaccine than the original corona virus. This information has been published by studying people who have been vaccinated against AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Antibodies are produced in the body of individuals who have recovered from covid. This protects them from the corona for some time. However, the ability to suppress these antibodies is in the Delta variant and is six times higher than that of the original corona virus.

The researchers collected data from 9,000 health workers at three hospitals in Delhi. They were given both doses of the vaccine. Of these, corona symptoms were found in 218 people. Thet had been vaccinated against Covishield.

The prevalence of the Delta variant in this cohort was found to be 5.45 times more than other variants.