Good News for Recipients of the Coronavirus Vaccine Regarding the Indian Strain

Excellent news has come from India regarding the effectiveness of vaccines against the new Indian variant of the coronavirus. A study conducted in India showed that the COVID-19 vaccines were 97 percent effective against infection from the Indian variant of the virus. The study included 3,235 healthcare workers in India, 85 of whom were infected with the mutated coronavirus, and all of them had received the AstraZeneca vaccine. The outcome was a significant reduction in the virus, as only two of the 85 individuals required hospitalization for treatment after continuing to be infected with the virus. Anupam Sibal, the medical director of the study, told The Telegraph, "Our study showed that 97.38 percent of those vaccinated are protected from infection, and the hospitalization rate was only 0.06 percent." Sir John Bell, a professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, where another study is being conducted, stated that the data so far is "fairly promising." He said to Radio Times, "It seems that the Indian variant will be susceptible to the vaccine like the others." UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock also confirmed the encouraging news during an interview with Sky News, stating, "There is very early new data from the University of Oxford... that gives us some confidence that the vaccines work against the Indian variant, but it remains more transmissible."