Virologist issues stark warning if young people are not vaccinated
A FAILURE to vaccinate enough young people against Covid-19 could allow a mutant strain of the virus to rage out of control in Northern Ireland, it has been warned.
Dr Connor Bamford, a virologist from Queen’s University in Belfast, said the race is on to vaccinate as many people as possible to reduce the number of people who become seriously ill as a result of Covid-19.
But he stressed the vaccination programme alone will not be enough to bring the virus under control.
Currently, demand for the vaccine far outweighs supply but there are concerns that younger people, who may be worried about the safety of the jab and may also believe they do not need protection from the virus, may not avail of the opportunity to be vaccinated.
“The people who are being vaccinated now are in the highest priority groups but there is a concern as the younger groups are invited for their vaccine they may say no,” he said.
“When you think about people who are 40 and under and have no underlying health conditions, they may not think it’s important that they get the vaccine. There are questions about the safety of the vaccines but they are very safe and it’s crucial that as many people as possible are vaccinated.
“The biggest issue is the fact we don’t think the vaccines stop people from spreading the virus. Some people who get the vaccine don’t get sick at all so they won’t know that they are ill and are spreading the virus, possibly to people who are vulnerable. We really do need high vaccine uptake.
“In addition, even though our vaccination programme is ambitious, this becomes a global issue where other countries may not be vaccinating as well as we are, which could result in greater spread and the potential for new variants.”
Dr Bamford said scientists are carefully monitoring the situation regarding mutant strains of Covid-19.
All viruses mutate, including the ones that cause Covid-19. As the virus replicates, tiny changes occur so that it can survive and thrive. While many are not an issue, some can make it more dangerous or infectious to humans.
There are thousands of different variants of Covid-19, but the strains that have originated from south east England, Brazil and South Africa are a concern to experts because of how they increase people’s chances of catching it.
Dr Bamford continued: “The worry is that, while they might not make people sicker, they will make the outbreak worse and because more people are getting sick, more people will end up in hospital and it will make getting control of the virus harder.
“We do think that the mutations may be slightly more resistant to the vaccine, so where immunity would have been at 95%, the vaccine may only by 80% effective against the variants. The vaccines that have been created so far can be updated quite easily but we don’t know yet exactly how the situation is going to change and whether other variants might emerge.
“The longer we take to vaccinate people, the more chance there is for other variants to emerge. And there is the possibility that one of those may be resistant to the vaccines we already have and that’s why it’s so important that we get the virus back under control as quickly as we can.
“The best way to beat this virus is by controlling the spread in the population and stopping other variants in the future and that’s why we need the vaccination programme, restrictions on mixing, travel restrictions and a proper track and trace system to keep virus levels as low as possible.”