The Delta strain of coronavirus five times more prevalent among children, said the President of the Academy of Preventive Medicine Almaz Sharman at a briefing in the Central Communications Service. The world is currently at a critical phase of the pandemic, when coronavirus begins to intensively mutate in order to survive in the face of global accelerating vaccination drive.
As it turned out, the delta strain is 60 percent more contagious than previous mutations. The infection with the Indian variant significantly increases the risks of hospitalization and death.
“Vaccines remain the only effective means against the delta and other variants of coronavirus. Although the first dose of vaccine protects by 17 percent, its second dose restores its effectiveness against the delta strain. The current wave of the epidemic caused by the delta variant has widened further the gap between vaccinated people and those who have not received vaccine,” said Almaz Sharman, Professor of Immunology, President of Academy of Preventive Medicine.
The immunologist compares the epidemiological situation in Kazakhstan with a ship sailing towards an iceberg.
“I reviewed the data of the University of Oxford, which states that more than 3 billion doses of vaccines were used to date in the world. This is nearly 39 doses per 100 people. The vaccination mainly covered the majority of the population in the U.S., Israel and European countries. However, the vaccination rates in many other regions of the world are quite slow. In Kazakhstan, 17 percent of the population received the first dose of vaccine and 10 percent – both components. In my opinion, the fact that more than 80 percent of the population are not vaccinated in Kazakhstan at all seems like a ship sailing towards an iceberg,” said Almaz Sharman, Professor of Immunology, President of Academy of Preventive Medicine.
Today countries are actively negotiating on the mutual recognition of passports of vaccination against the coronavirus infection. Kazakhstan has done a lot of work in this area. To date, the country recognized the vaccination passports of Hungary, Mongolia and Thailand.
Translation by Saniya Sakenova
Editing by Saule Mukhamejanova
