Jab effectiveness

Vaccines appear to prevent 97 per cent of infections with the Indian variant, real world data suggests, with no known cases of death among those fully vaccinated in Britain. Amid concern that hesitancy over vaccines is fuelling outbreaks, ministers yesterday repeated pleas for all those eligible to get vaccinated, with Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, warning that many of those hospitalised in the UK with the variant had not had a vaccine. He said that of 18 cases in hospital in Bolton — Britain’s worst hotspot — just one person was fully vaccinated, although most were eligible. While the UK has now recorded 1313 cases of the Indian variant, Hancock said he was not aware of anyone who had died with the variant after receiving two doses of the vaccine. It came as a study of 3235 vaccinated healthcare workers in India given the AstraZeneca jab found that just 85 reported symptoms of Covid-19, with only two ending up in hospital.