Nicholas Parson
Northwest Asia Weekly
“This COVID vaccine is like a life jacket,” said Dr. Dong Heun Lee, a doctor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Hospital. In the past month, the number of hospitalized COVID patients in the hospital has more than tripled and infected unvaccinated people.
Lee said that people who have not been vaccinated face a huge risk of contracting COVID-19. With the rapid decline in vaccination rates, another wave of upcoming COVID cases surged under the stimulus of the highly spreading Delta variant, and hospitals were again full. But doctors, researchers, and medical professors all have the same information: vaccinations.
Dr. Deborah Fuller, professor of microbiology and vaccine researcher at the University of Washington, said: “Viruses that have been mutated to spread more effectively will become the dominant virus.”
According to the Washington State Department of Health, the Delta variant has become the main strain in Washington State, accounting for approximately 85% of new cases in July. As of July 30, it is estimated that 1 in every 172 Washington residents have been infected with active COVID-19. Experts predict that this number will continue to rise. The August 13 press release stated that “the prevalence rate is approaching the level of the surge in the winter of 2020.”
The Centers for Disease Control stated that the vaccine is very effective in preventing serious illness and death, including targeting the Delta variant. Although some fully vaccinated people will still be infected with breakthrough infections, the vaccine can still provide protection against serious illness and death.
Nevertheless, after vaccination, as our antibody response begins to weaken, the immune effect will weaken over time, Fuller said. The CDC is currently not sure that a person’s antibodies will decay to the level of severe disease after vaccination.
Fuller said: “Because the vaccine is too new, but also too new, we do not have enough data to know when the vaccine will become less effective in protecting us from disease.”
If breakthrough infections start to increase and the number of vaccinated individuals with diseases increases, researchers will be able to determine whether the antibody response of vaccinated individuals is declining.
Fuller added that the second way to test the lifespan of a vaccine is to empirically test the vaccine response on animals. By vaccinating animals, researchers can test different levels of immune responses and immune responses against mutant versions of the virus. She said that research done in her laboratory showed that even low levels of immunity “can provide substantial disease protection.”
She said: “This is actually a promising sign, at least in terms of the antibody threshold you need to protect. These vaccines may provide lasting immunity.” “But then there will be variants because they can be changed slightly. This equation.”
In response to these variants, researchers are designing and editing vaccines to address the mutations shown in the newer variants. Fuller said that by editing the vaccine to match the major variants, researchers will be able to ensure better protection against newer and more deadly variants.
Among eligible residents, 75.7% of people in Jinxian County have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 81.5% of people have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Nonetheless, as the Delta variant infects more people, it is essential that individuals be vaccinated against the virus.
Lee said that the number of patients infected with COVID-19 in the University of California, San Francisco hospital is on the rise, and most of the hospitalized patients are not vaccinated. He said that if there is no vaccine, people will be trapped in the water.
“This COVID vaccine is like a life jacket when you swim,” Li said. “If you are vaccinated, you are safe in the water. If you are not, I mean, you can swim, but you may drown. It is really important to get everyone vaccinated.” ν
This health series is funded by the Washington Department of Health, which has no editorial opinions or supervision of this content.
