08-09-2021, 05:49 PM
(08-09-2021, 02:57 PM)bengaloo Wrote: The situation in Israel is different because Delta hit them long before us. It originated in India and hit other countries first. We still dont know what delta will do here, but its hitting other countries pretty hard and the data out of the UK is similar based on an article I saw on NYT not long ago. A lot of vaccinated people are getting covid-delta and the vaccines are not looking as effective against that strain, especially pfizer but it could end up more.
No, it's not. Two studies out of Great Britain show the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine versus the delta variant at 88% which is a significant difference than the efficacy numbers coming from Israel.
Israel vaccinated their citizens at a faster rate than Great Britain. So when the delta variant caused a surge in each country the Israelis were further removed from their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. A third study out of Oxford indicates waiting 8 weeks between the two shot series is better at producing antibodies than the recommended schedule by Pfizer. Because Great Britain had a shortage of Pfizer vaccines they separated the doses by 4-12 weeks instead of the recommended 3 weeks.
So the difference in efficacy rates in different countries could be because waning antibody levels due to time. Or the Great Britain vaccine schedule it better at producing higher levels of antibodies. Or one of the studies is incorrect. Or it could be multifactorial. Or it could be due to another factor I didn't mention. Obviously, more information needs to be gathered to determine the discrepancy.
