Do I Need To Worry About the Delta Variant If I'm Vaccinated?
"I've been vaccinated. Do I need to worry about variants?" The answer depends on a few things  including your personal risk tolerance. But first off, know that your vaccine is quite valuable. The COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be protective against the new virus variants, according to the World Health Organization. Exactly how much the various vaccines protect against the delta variant  the newest form of the virus that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dubbed a "variant of concern"  is still somewhat of a guessing game. But if you're fully vaccinated (two weeks after your second dose) the odds are highly favorable that you won't get a breakthrough COVID-19 infection, and even better that if you are one of the unfortunate few, you won't get a severe case. "At least for those vaccines approved in Europe and North America, in the case of the variants, these seem to be effective in preventing severe disease, hospitalization and death," says Dr. Jerome Kim, director general of the International Vaccine Institute. The alpha variant, first identified in the U.K., is around 50% more transmissible than the original form of the virus. The Pfizer vaccine was found to be 90% effective against the most severe forms of infection (i.e., those resulting in hospitalization or death) caused by this variant. That study also showed high protection against the beta variant, first spotted in South Africa. A study from Public Health England, an agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in the U.K., found that AstraZeneca also showed a high level of effectiveness against alpha, with an 86% reduction of hospitalizations. The study has not yet been published. The delta variant is expected to overtake the alpha variant as the main form of the virus in the United States. More than 20% of new cases in the U.S. are already due to the delta variant. Since the delta variant is even more transmissible  about 60% higher than alpha  that's what people in the U.S. will be at highest risk of soon. It's part of the reason the CDC upgraded delta from a variant of interest to a variant of concern. Experts are also concerned because therapies such as monoclonal antibodies and convalescent serum don't seem to work as well against this variant, says Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. As for the vaccines, one study of the delta variant in Scotland from the University of Edinburgh found that while the variant was associated with a doubling in the risk of hospitalization in those infected in the region, the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines offered a 79% and 60% protection, respectively, against infection two weeks after the second dose. And a study from Public Health England showed that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the delta variant. As for other vaccines, David Montefiori, director of the Laboratory for AIDS Vaccine Research and Development at Duke University Medical Center, is optimistic. Based on research he has conducted that has not yet been published, including the Moderna vaccine, he says that "delta does not look like it will be much of a threat to vaccines."