Vaccines reduce COVID transmission by 40% — WHO

By AFP 24 November 2021, 7:42 pm

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An Israeli receives a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a Maccabi Health Care center in Katsrin, Golan Heights, October 7, 2021. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

COVID vaccines reduce transmission of the dominant Delta variant by about 40 percent, the WHO says, warning that people were falling into a false sense of security concerning the shots.

The World Health Organization’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says many vaccinated people are wrongly thinking the shots meant they no longer needed to take any other precautions.

Fully immunized people must stick with measures to avoid catching the virus and passing it on, Tedros insists, spelling out how the more contagious Delta meant the vaccines were not as effective against transmission.

“We’re concerned about the false sense of security that vaccines have ended the pandemic and people who are vaccinated do not need to take any other precautions,” Tedros tells reporters.

“Vaccines save lives but they do not fully prevent transmission.

“Data suggests that before the arrival of the Delta variant, vaccines reduced transmission by about 60 percent. With Delta, that has dropped to about 40 percent.”