A DOSE OF THEIROWN Pasay City residents on Saturday trooped to the city government’s Giga Vaccination center at SM Mall of Asia to receive the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine. —RICHARD A. REYES
A double dose of COVID-19 vaccines is almost as effective against the fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus first identified in India as it is against Britain’s dominant strain, English health officials said on Saturday.
Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the data was groundbreaking and he was increasingly hopeful that the government would be able to lift more COVID restrictions next month.
A study by Public Health England (PHE) found the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88 percent effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 variant, a sublineage of the India variant, two weeks after the second dose.
That compared with 93 percent effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 “Kent” strain, which is Britain’s dominant COVID variant.
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Two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 60 percent effective against symptomatic disease from the India variant compared with 66 percent effectiveness against the Kent variant, PHE said.
“I’m increasingly confident that we’re on track for the road map, because this data shows that the vaccine, after two doses, works just as effectively (against the India variant),” Hancock told broadcasters.
Under the government’s plans, a lifting of remaining coronavirus restrictions is due to take place from June 21.
Britain has rushed out Europe’s fastest vaccination program so far but it has faced a new challenge from the spread of the variant first found in India.
Data published on Saturday showed new COVID cases reported in Britain rose by 10.5 percent in the seven days to May 22 although it remained a fraction of levels seen earlier this year.
First dose 33% effective
Prime Minister Boris Johnson this month ordered an acceleration of remaining second doses to the over 50s and people who are clinically vulnerable.
PHE said a first dose of both vaccines was 33 percent effective against symptomatic disease from B.1.617.2 after three weeks, lower than its 50 percent effectiveness against B.1.1.7.
Hancock said that showed that getting both doses of the vaccine was “absolutely vital.”
On Saturday, India’s government ordered social media platforms to take down content that refers to the India variant of the coronavirus.
The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India last year and has been blamed for much of a devastating Covid-19 wave that has battered South Asian nations in recent weeks.
It has spread to Britain and at least 43 other countries, where India variant has become a widely used term.
The government order, sent on Friday by the electronics and information technology ministry, highlighted government sensitivity to accusations that it has mishandled the new surge.
Socmed takedown
In it, the ministry told social media companies to “remove all the content” that refers to the India variant.
“It has come to our knowledge that a false statement is being circulated online which implies that an ‘Indian variant’ of coronavirus is spreading across the countries. This is completely FALSE,” read the letter, obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The ministry cited previous calls to curb “false news and misinformation” about the pandemic on social media as a basis for the order.
It argued that the World Health Organization (WHO) did not link any country to the B.1.617 variant.
The WHO declared the strain a “global concern” last week as it spread around the world.
Country names for variants
Several countries have banned or put severe restrictions on passengers from India since the variant emerged.
Many health experts and governments have used country names to describe new coronavirus variants that have emerged in Britain, Brazil and South Africa.
Indian government officials have regularly used the term “UK variant” since the mutant British strain started spreading in India.
The right-wing government has been criticized for its efforts to contain the new pandemic wave. India has faced severe shortages of oxygen, vaccines, hospital beds and life-saving drugs.
The government last month ordered Twitter and Facebook to remove dozens of posts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the crisis.
India on Saturday reported another 257,000 cases and 4,194 deaths in 24 hours, taking its total to 26.2 million infections and 295,525 deaths.
Almost half of the deaths have been recorded since late March when the new surge started battering the nation of 1.3 billion people.
The capital, New Delhi, meanwhile stopped vaccine shots for people aged under 45 because it has run out of jabs.
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