EVEN THE VACCINATED NEED TO GUARD AGAINST VARIANT DELTA

Many of us who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 have at least started to lead more normal lives. Since getting my Pfizer shots, I've traveled by plane, stayed at a B&B and in friends' homes, eaten inside restaurants, and hugged (vaccinated) friends. It's felt great.

But from what I'm now reading, even if we're fully vaccinated, we may not be fully protected against the highly contagious Delta variant.

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From the laboratory, as reported in the prestigious journal Nature, we learn that one dose of either the Pfizer or the AstraZenaca vaccines "was poorly or not at all efficient against the Beta and Delta variants." Serum from just one person in 10 partially vaccinated people was able to neutralize the Delta variant. 

A bit more encouragingly, blood serum from 95 percent of people who'd gotten both shots of either vaccine did generate a neutralizing response. However, that response was just one-third to one-fifth as potent against Delta compared to Alpha.

And, in the outside world comes a report from Israel indicating that the Pfizer jab is just 64 percent effective in keeping vaccinated people from catching the Delta variant. The good news is that it appears to be 94 percent effective in preventing severe illness. Still, the actual numbers are not encouraging. In the recent two-week period surveyed, Israel recorded 1,528 new Covid cases. Of those, 1,271 were in fully vaccinated people. Thirty-seven people had to be hospitalized, of which 23 were fully vaccinated. Seventeen patients fell seriously ill, or which 11 had gotten both Pfizer shots.

More recent data from Israel, covering the week of June 27 through July 3 showed that a shockingly high percentage of new Covid cases--85 percent--hit fully vaccinated people. That's essentially the same percentage who are vaccinated in the whole Israeli population. At first glance this could indicate that the mRNA vaccines provide no protection against the delta variant. It's also possible that the 15 percent of the Israeli population who are nor vaccinated have already had Covid or are otherwise immune. In that case these data could indicate that vaccination provides no more protection than a prior bout with Covid. But in either case they clearly show that "breakthrough" infections from the delta variant are far from rare.

And an even more recent report from Israel finds that even two Pfizer jabs are just 39 percent effective in protecting people against the delta variant. The same report is quick to point out that the shots are 88 percent effective in preventing hospitalization and 91 percent effective against severe illness.

The Israeli numbers are described as preliminary and definitely are outliers compared to what some other countries are reporting. However, they clearly show that the Delta variant can sneak past the antibody defenses of a significant number of vaccinated individuals, corroborating what was seen in the lab.

If more proof were needed, an outbreak of the delta variant among staff and patients at a hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada provides it. Ten medical professionals who were fully vaccinated nonetheless came down with Covid-delta after attending a party. "It's quite a red flag, honestly," one Canadian health expert said.

It's reassuring that the vaccines still appear to be highly effective in preventing serious illness. Still, I don't want to risk even a mild case of Covid. So, until the Delta variant becomes much less prevalent, or until further data is significantly more reassuring, I'm dialing back from my more freewheeling behavior of the last few months.

"Normal" may be in sight, but, due to the highly contagious delta variant, it's not here yet.

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