The findings of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 can be effective enough to provide up to 88 percent of protection against the Delta variant.
“The data is mounting that the mRNA vaccines are the solution to the Delta variant,” said one leading expert on health security in a news release. “It is also apparent that the second dose of these vaccines is needed to augment the immunity from the first dose, for a person to be resilient to the variant.”
The journal report was released amid the development of several different mutations in the coronavirus spike protein, attributed to the Delta variant.
Researchers established that the Pfizer vaccine may provide enough protection against the mutations from the Delta variant.
“This is likely because two doses create a lot more antibodies,” said one virology expert in the same news release. “Antibodies that don’t work as well can still work, especially if you have enough of them.”
“These mRNA vaccines are really exceeding all of our expectations. It’s terrific news that the effectiveness is this high despite these variants. It absolutely supports that our emphasis needs to be on getting the unvaccinated vaccinated,” said Kathleen Neuzil, a researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
