Both vaccine doses reduce risk of delta variant infection by up to 60 percent: study

The results of a new English study released on Wednesday found that fully vaccinated people are three times less likely to test positive for the coronavirus compared to unvaccinated people.

The results of the study, conducted by Imperial College London, are based on swab tests taken by nearly 100,000 people in England between June 24 and July 12. Of the tests taken, 0.63 percent tested positive.

The study appeared to confirm what many health experts have said of vaccinated people, which is that they are significantly less likely to pass on the COVID-19 due to lower amounts of the virus within their system.

Researchers estimated that fully vaccinated people were 50 to 60 percent less likely to become infected with the delta variant than unvaccinated people, including asymptomatic cases.

“These findings confirm our previous data showing that both doses of a vaccine offer good protection against getting infected. However we can also see that there is still a risk of infection, as no vaccine is 100% effective, and we know that some double vaccinated people can still become ill from the virus,” Paul Elliott, director of Imperial College’s COVID-19 REACT-1 study, said. 

“So even with the easing of restrictions, we should still act with caution to help protect one another and curb the rate of infections,” Elliott added.

In this latest study, researchers at Imperial College also found that the highest rate of infection was among young people aged 13 to 24 and the lowest rate of infection was among older people aged 75 and up. 

“We must continue our phenomenal progress — my message to anyone who has not yet been vaccinated is please come forward, to protect yourself, your family and your community,” said Nadhim Zahawi, the United Kingdom’s minister for COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment.