The Delta variant of the coronavirus that leads to Covid-19 doubles the risk of hospitalization compared to the Alpha variant it has supplanted as the dominant strain worldwide. Researchers revealed that only 1.8 percent of the more than 43,000 Covid-19 cases assessed in comparing the two variants were in patients who had been fully vaccinated. Three-quarters were completely unvaccinated, and 24 percent had received only one shot of a two-dose vaccine.
Healthcare data from 43,338 Covid-19 cases in England were assessed in the study. All virus samples underwent whole-genome sequencing, the surest way to confirm which variant had caused the infection. After accounting for factors that are known to affect susceptibility to severe illness – including age, ethnicity, and vaccination status – the researchers found the risk of being admitted to hospital was more than double with the Delta variant. An earlier study from Scotland also reported a doubling in hospitalization risk with Delta over Alpha, suggesting that Delta causes more severe disease. Multiple studies have shown that full vaccination prevents infection with symptoms and hospitalisation for both Alpha and Delta variants. The coronavirus has killed at least 4,492,854 people worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.
Bangladesh is primarily dependent on the Indian OxfordAstaZeneca vaccine and when the supply of the vaccine was hampered last May the government looked for other opportunities. Despite the hectic efforts, our vaccination rate is poor and needs more efforts for reaching all. People of many remote places like the Haor areas and Hill tracts and different poverty pockets are still deprived of vaccination activities. In Bangladesh, around 25.5 million people have so far taken either one dose or both. Of them, only 7.41 million are fully vaccinated, which constitutes 4.5% of the total population. Besides the government, philanthropist organizations, large conglomerates and social organisations should come forward to accelerate the Covid-19 immunization programme.
