Covid vaccines work well against Indian variant

New research finds a double dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca offers significant protection

Pfizer's vaccine was found to 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant two weeks after the second dose. AFP

Two shots of a Covid vaccine work almost as well against the Indian variant as they do against the dominant UK strain of the virus, a new study published shows.

Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock called the data groundbreaking and expressed hope stage 4 of England’s Covid roadmap could proceed without hitch on June 21.

According to figures from Public Health England, 22,071,497 people in the UK had been fully vaccinated against the virus on May 21.

With these figures showing that the UK is delivering a seven-day average of 337,000 second doses, many millions more Britons are on track to receive dose number two by June 21, when more Covid restrictions will be lifted.

The PHE research found the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 Indian, or "double mutant", variant two weeks after the second dose.

That compared with 93 per cent effectiveness against the B.1.1.7, or Kent strain, which is Britain’s dominant Covid variant.

Two doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine were 60 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant compared with 66 per cent effectiveness against the Kent variant, PHE said.

Britain has rushed out Europe’s fastest vaccination programme but it has faced a new challenge from the spread of the variant first found in India.

Data published on Saturday showed new coronavirus cases reported in Britain rose by 10.5 per cent in the seven days to May 22, although they were still a fraction of levels seen earlier this year.

The Indian variant itself represents a fraction of these cases, but data from genome sequencers the Wellcome Sanger Institute showed it is accelerating exponentially in the UK.

With vaccines now shown to be effective against the double mutant, the race between vaccine and variant is well and truly on. Mr Hancock said it further proved getting both doses of the vaccine was vital.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier in May ordered an acceleration of remaining second doses to the over-50s and people who are clinically vulnerable.

PHE said one dose of both vaccines was 33 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant B.1.617.2 after three weeks, lower than its 50 per cent effectiveness against the Kent variant B.1.1.7.

Concern about rising cases in Britain of the variant first found in India prompted Germany to say on Friday that anyone entering the country from the United Kingdom would have to quarantine for two weeks on arrival.

Coronavirus around the world - in pictures

Employees of Michael Undertakers and Ambulance Services, seen wearing personal protective equipment suits, join mourners at the burial of a Covid-19 coronavirus victim at a Christian cemetery in Pali, a village near Faridabad. AFP

Felix San Soe receives help from his grandfather to make a blessing at the grave of his grandmother, Tin Aye, who died a year ago from Covid-19, in Aurora, Colorado, US. Reuters

Farmers view a cow from ringside at the Carrigallen Mart cattle auction as the coronavirus disease restrictions are eased in Ireland. Reuters

Myanmar migrant worker Chit Kaung, 21, looks from his dormitory room, in which he has been stuck for 12 days owing to lockdown measures after more than a thousand Covid-19 cases were detected in his accommodation in Bangkok, Thailand. Reuters

An aerial view of open burial plots near the graves of recently deceased people at Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Getty

A tour guide walks on an empty street in the central district of Myeongdong in Seoul, South Korea. EPA

A woman buys a chicken from a street vendor in Phnom Penh. Markets remained closed amid lockdown restrictions introduced in Cambodia to try to halt a surge in cases of Covid-19. AFP

People gather in Central Park in New York. After 16 months of safety measures in place owing to the pandemic, New Yorkers can now enjoy a city in which most restrictions have been lifted. AFP