Covid’s effect on vaccinated people backed by science
SAMRC's Glenda Gray says science has clearly shown that vaccinated people are protected against severe disease and death.
A woman is vaccinated by a member of the Western Cape Metro EMS in an ambulance which has been converted to facilitate vaccinations at a Covid-19 vaccination event in Manenberg, which is part of the Vaxi-Taxi mobile vaccination drive, on 8 December 2021 in Cape Town. Picture: Rodger Bosch/ AFP
Experts urge the public to get vaccinated despite the latest study showing fully vaccinated people were only 30 % protected against the highly transmissible but mild omicron virus.
Earlier this week, Discovery released its analysis of the omicron outbreak, based on 78,000 Covid test results in South Africa.
The president of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Prof Glenda Gray, said they felt encouraged by the results of Discovery Health’s analysis.
“It is extremely important to be able to demonstrate to the public that in a real-world setting – in the presence of a highly transmissible new Covid variant – the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides good protection against severe disease and hospitalisation.”
As of Wednesday, Gauteng accounted for the most confirmed cases with 1,085,799, followed by KwaZulu Natal with 554,137, Western Cape with 545,152, Eastern Cape 304,724, Free State 176,327, North West 1,688,353, Mpumalanga 166,740, and Northern Cape with 96,221.
The head of the South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre, Prof Hannelie Meyer, said we had to remember that the main goal of all vaccines given from childhood through old age was to protect against severe disease and death, thereby reducing suffering and improving people’s quality of life.
“Over the last 12 months, science has clearly shown that the Covid vaccines are effective at protecting against severe disease and death,” she said.
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