Coronavirus vaccines hold up against Delta variant, US study finds

Three papers published by the CDC found that fully vaccinated people are 11 times less likely to die, and the Moderna vaccine offers higher protection

It comes after US President Joe Biden announced an aggressive new immunisation plan

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A pharmacist holds a vial of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine. A study found efficacy against hospitalisation was highest for the Moderna vaccine at 95 per cent. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:34pm, 11 Sep 2021Updated: 9:53am, 13 Sep 2021

Fully vaccinated people were 11 times less likely to die of Covid-19 and 10 times less likely to be hospitalised compared to the unvaccinated since highly contagious Delta became the most common variant, US health authorities said on Friday.

The data came from one of three new papers published by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, all of which underscored Covid-19 vaccines’ ongoing effectiveness against severe outcomes.

For reasons that are not yet well understood, data from one of the studies suggests Moderna’s vaccine has offered a slightly higher level of protection in the Delta period.

It comes a day after President Joe Biden announced an aggressive new immunisation plan that includes requiring companies employing more than 100 people to either vaccinate their workers or test them weekly.

“As we have shown in study after study, vaccination works,” said CDC director Rochelle Walenksy during a press briefing on Friday.

The first study examined hundreds of thousands of cases in 13 US jurisdictions from April 4 – June 19, the period before Delta was dominant, and compared them to June 20 – July 17.

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