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Delta Variant: Pfizer Says Its Vaccine Highly Effective Against New Variant of Coronavirus
However, the union health ministry has said that both Covishield and Covaxin, the two vaccines which have been part of India's vaccination drive, are effective against Delta variants.
New Delhi: Pfizer on Thursday claimed that its vaccine is highly effective against the Delta variant of coronavirus. Experts believe that the Delta variant, which has now emerged as a new concern for the entire world, was the moot reason behind the second wave of the pandemic in India. It is important to note that Pfizer is likely to strike a deal with the Indian government soon and its entry into the market will ramp up India’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the union health ministry has said that both Covishield and Covaxin, the two vaccines which have been part of India’s vaccination drive, are effective against Delta variants.
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“The data we have today, accumulating from research we are conducting at the lab and including data from those places where the Indian variant, Delta, has replaced the British variant as the common variant, point to our vaccine being very effective, around 90%, in preventing the coronavirus disease, Covid-19,” Alon Rappaport, Pfizer’s medical director in Israel told local broadcaster Army Radio, Reuters reported.
A second mutation of the variant, called Delta Plus, has also been reported in India and in some other countries, including the UK and the US. The World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier warned that the Delta variant, the significantly more transmissible strain of COVID-19, is expected to become a “dominant lineage” if current trends continue,
The COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update released on June 22 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that globally, the variant Alpha has been reported in 170 countries, territories or areas, Beta in 119 countries, Gamma in 71 countries and Delta in 85 countries.
“Delta, now reported in 85 countries globally, continues to be reported in new countries across all WHO Regions, 11 of which were newly reported in the past two weeks,” the update said. WHO said the four current ‘Variants of Concern’ being monitored closely – Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta – are widespread and have been detected in all WHO regions.
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