South African variant can break through Pfizer vaccine, Israeli study says

Re:South African variant can break through Pfizer vaccine, I... by morsch on Sunday April 11, 2021 @02:05AM (#26767836)

Unfortunately, the article doesn't tell us how many of the people had to be hospitalised. The vaccine may provide imperfect immunity against a variant, but still prevent the vast majority of serious cases in those people that get the variant despite being vaccinated.

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Re:South African variant can break through Pfizer vaccine, I... by kolinko on Sunday April 11, 2021 @02:33AM (#26767965)

Probably too few people to be any hospitalised in any gruop.

But yeah, the article is missing many details - how many people were infected at all for example...

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Re:South African variant can break through Pfizer vaccine, I... by mikeiz404 on Sunday April 11, 2021 @03:48AM (#26768367)

I believe all 800 were infected in the Israel study.

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Re:South African variant can break through Pfizer vaccine, I... by londons_explore on Sunday April 11, 2021 @02:31AM (#26767952)

Which is good news for the vaccine manufacturer...

Now instead of reaching herd immunity rates, you need to vaccinate everyone.

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Re:South African variant can break through Pfizer vaccine, I... by totalZero on Sunday April 11, 2021 @03:20AM (#26768218)

I've heard that herd immunity would require around 70% vaccine uptake.

In the US, 77% of the population is 18 or older.

Thus, your argument is really quite weak...even if what you describe were true, it would only affect about 7% of the population versus current age guidelines.

However, what you are saying isn't true either. Nobody ever designated certain people to receive the vaccine and others to receive herd protection. We are simply rolling the vaccines out to more vulnerable cohorts first.

Also, if this news is true it simply means that we need to vaccinate in the third world, where people cannot work from home and weaknesses in health infrastructure and education exacerbate transmission (and as a result, mutation). That may be good for pharmaceutical companies, or it may be a situation where the logistical costs are higher but companies are pressured to reduce pricing or release IP for public use.

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