{"id":376453,"date":"2021-12-04T13:39:43","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T10:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/delta-still-dominates-say-experts-urging-third-jab\/"},"modified":"2021-12-04T13:39:43","modified_gmt":"2021-12-04T10:39:43","slug":"delta-still-dominates-say-experts-urging-third-jab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/delta-still-dominates-say-experts-urging-third-jab\/","title":{"rendered":"#Delta still dominates say experts urging third jab"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Delta still dominates say experts urging third jab<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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No one knows how effective vaccines will be in stopping people catching the newly discovered and fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 or how well they will protect against severe illness.\n <\/p>\n

Lab tests are under way to determine vaccine efficacy against Omicron with results expected within weeks. <\/p>\n

In the meantime the Delta variant remains dominant and experts, governments and vaccine makers are urging people to take advantage of booster jabs where they are available.<\/p>\n

Delta has proved able to evade vaccine defences against transmission better than the Alpha, Beta and Gamma COVID variants. <\/p>\n

But jabs have remained highly effective at preventing severe illness from Delta, lowering the risk of overwhelming hospital resources.<\/p>\n

With Delta still dominant in Europe, some countries are trying to accelerate their third jab campaigns.<\/p>\n

UK prime minister Boris Johnson set a goal of offering a booster to all adults by the end of January and decreasing the waiting period between second and third jabs from six to three months.<\/p>\n

In the US, Pfizer is seeking authorisation for its jab to be given as a booster to 16- and 17-year-olds.<\/p>\n

“It would be a serious mistake to slow down now,” said Alain Fischer, who coordinates France’s pandemic vaccine strategy.<\/p>\n

“Our message is: Don’t freak out, the plan remains the same: Speed up the administration of a third booster shot,” BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

But Moderna chief Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times this week that he expected “a material drop” in the shots’ effectiveness against the new variant.<\/p>\n

Lab tests to measure Omicron’s vulnerability to the vaccines in use today are under way, a process that should yield results in two to three weeks.<\/p>\n

Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna each say they have begun work on a new version of their vaccine specifically targeting Omicron\u2014in case existing jabs don’t work against it.<\/p>\n

When Delta arrived on the scene, Pfizer developed a jab especially for the variant but never rolled it out.<\/p>\n

“Labs ended up relying on the fact that their jabs protected against severe COVID\u2014but it still allows the virus to circulate,” said Bruno Canard, a coronavirus expert at French national research institute CNRS.<\/p>\n

Pfizer has promised a new vaccine within 100 days but the roll-out will take far longer and won’t be in place before spring, Canard said.<\/p>\n

“In the meantime, current vaccines protect against serious forms of COVID from the Delta variant.”\n <\/p>\n\n

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Pfizer already working on Covid vaccine targeting Omicron: CEO\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Delta still dominates say experts urging third jab (2021, December 4)
\n retrieved 4 December 2021
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news<\/a>\/2021-12-delta-dominates-experts-urging-jab.html<\/p>\n

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