*This strain could be the dominant strain in the American union.
Receiving two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines provides 96 percent protection against hospitalizations due to COVID-19 Delta variant, while Oxford-AstraZeneca's efficacy is 92 percent, according to a new study. British research.
The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, detected in India for the first time, has a higher transmissibility compared to other SARS-CoV-2 variants.
The analysis included 14,019 cases due to the Delta strain, of which 166 were hospitalized, between April 12 and June 4 in England.
The paper presented by Public Health in that country -- PHE -- notes that an earlier analysis showed that one dose is 17 percent less effective in preventing symptomatic Delta variant disease compared to Alpha, but with two doses the difference is minimal.
"This evidence of the effectiveness of 2 doses against variants shows how crucial it is to have the full scheme," said UK health and social care secretary Matt Hancock.
"If you have received your first dose but have not yet booked your second, do so. It will help save lives and propel us on the road to recovery," he added.
Dr. Mary Ramsay, chief of immunization at PHE, said these extremely important findings confirm that the vaccines offer significant protection against hospitalization for the Delta variant.
"It is absolutely vital to get both doses as soon as they are offered to get maximum protection against all existing and emerging variants," he said.
An independent analysis by PHE indicates that, as of May 30, the COVID-19 vaccination program has prevented 14,000 deaths and about 42,000 hospitalizations in older people in England.
While it is true that the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) is more contagious than the original strain, and has become dominant in the U.S., experts are concerned that it may be overtaken by the Delta variant, which appears to be even more transmissible and may cause the disease to be more severe for those who are not vaccinated.
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in an interview with CBS on Sunday that about 10 percent of COVID-19 cases in the country can be attributed to the Delta variant, and that proportion is doubling every two weeks.
In that regard, he noted that the Delta variant is likely to become the dominant strain of coronavirus in the U.S., hence the importance of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.
"I think in areas of the country where there is less vaccination, particularly in some southern cities where vaccination rates are low, there is a risk of outbreaks with this new variant," he said.
It's worth noting that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of early June 15, 52.6 percent of the U.S. population had been vaccinated with at least one dose, while 43.9 percent had been fully inoculated.
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