British professor calls herd immunity from COVID-19 impossible

MOSCOW, 11 Aug. The delta variant of the coronavirus makes it impossible for herd immunity to form against COVID-19, said Professor Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine Group in collaboration with AstraZeneca, at a meeting with British MPs. “The problem is that this virus is not measles virus. If 95% of the population is vaccinated against measles, the measles virus can no longer be transmitted. The delta strain will infect those who are vaccinated, «- quotes the professor The Guardian. Bloomberg: new vaccines may be required against the delta strain of COVID-19 As noted by Pollard, those who have not yet been vaccinated will sooner or later face the coronavirus, and there is no means to completely stop its transmission. According to him, existing vaccines are effective in protecting against severe COVID-19 and death, but not from infection. At the same time, the professor added that even in the case of a decrease in the level of antibodies after vaccination, the human immune system is likely to «remember» about the vaccine for decades and will provide a certain degree of protection when it encounters the virus. As reported earlier in Rospotrebnadzor, existing vaccines are still have good preventive and protective properties against the new strain, and also protect against severe forms of the disease COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus delta strain is one of the variants of the pathogen COVID-19. It was first discovered and described in India. The variant is distinguished by a shortened incubation period and an increased load on the human body. Study: fully vaccinated against COVID-19 get sick three times less often