- We will shift from epidemic to endemic – living with Covid.
- Sir Andrew said the next thing might be “a variant which is even better at transmitting in vaccinated populations”, adding
- Herd immunity is “not a possibility” because the Delta variant is still spreading fast and infecting fully vaccinated people, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group has said.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard told MPs in the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus that although 95% vaccination would stop transmission of measles, the same was not true for COVID.
He warned that this means “anyone still unvaccinated at some point will meet the virus”.
Herd immunity is when enough people become resistant to a disease – through vaccination or previous exposure – that it can no longer significantly spread among the rest of the population.
“Herd immunity is not a possibility” because the Delta variant “still infects vaccinated individuals”.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, says there is nothing “the UK can do to stop the emergence of new variants”. pic.twitter.com/eCq1zXxBWc
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) August 10, 2021
“Herd immunity is not a possibility” because the Delta variant “still infects vaccinated individuals”.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, says there is nothing “the UK can do to stop the emergence of new variants”. pic.twitter.com/eCq1zXxBWc
Sir Andrew said the vaccine might slow the spread of coronavirus, but as the Delta variant – first identified in India – is highly transmissible, jabs will not contain it altogether.
“We know very clearly with coronavirus that this current variant, the Delta variant, will still infect people who have been vaccinated and that does mean that anyone who’s still unvaccinated, at some point, will meet the virus,” he told MPs.
“I think we are in a situation here with this current variant where herd immunity is not a possibility because it still infects vaccinated individuals.”
Sir Andrew said the next thing might be “a variant which is even better at transmitting in vaccinated populations”, adding: “So, that’s even more of a reason not to be making a vaccine programme around herd immunity.”
However, the Oxford Vaccine Group director also said there was likely to be “increasing confidence” about the UK’s coronavirus situation.
He told the APPG: “I think this next six months is a really important consolidation phase and in that shift from the epidemic to the endemic, which is the living with COVID.
“That doesn’t mean that we live with it and put up with it – we still have to manage those cases of patients who become unwell with it.”
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