Race underway to get 2nd vaccine shots done before new variant takes over – CBC

Vaccines less effective against new delta variant, studies show

Jun 04, 2021

Two eastern Ontario science advisers say the province is in a race against time to get enough second doses of COVID-19 vaccine into arms before a variant originally identified in India takes over.

The delta variant, as it was recently re-named by the World Health Organization in an effort to simplify coronavirus variant names, is driving a new wave of COVID-19 cases in the U.K.

“The main thing we want to do now is get vaccinations high enough — and that includes second doses now — to slow this down,” said Troy Day, a member of the Ontario Modelling Consensus Table and a mathematician at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.

Ontario’s modelling this week shows the delta variant is set to take over from the alpha variant, previously known as B.1.1.7.

Experts say the delta variant appears to be 50 per cent more transmissible and causes more severe symptoms, leading to calls for even more caution as Ontario sets to reopen in two weeks.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/delta-variant-ontario-modelling-on-the-rise-1.6050287