Fully vaccinated people 65% less likely over unvaccinated to infect others: Expert

The fully vaccinated individuals are 65% less likely than unvaccinated individuals to infect others, Dr. Chandima Jeewandara from University of Jayawardenapura said.

Dr. Jeewandara who is the Director of the Allergy, Immunology and Cell Biology Unit of Sri Jayewardenepura University said in a Twitter message that this is a significant and reassuring finding as COVID-19 vaccines remain effective and a vital part of our response to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, he said on average, people have shown symptoms 5.8 days after being infected with the Delta variant of the COVID-19.

Dr. Jeewandara said before the Delta variant emerged, individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 took an average of 6.3 days to develop symptoms and 5.5 days to test positive for viral RNA, leaving a narrower window of 0.8 days for oblivious viral shedding.

“As a result, 74% of infections with the Delta variant were during the presymptomatic phase, which is a higher proportion than for previous variants,” he underlined.

He proceeded to say that the Delta variant has an R0 of 6.4, which is much higher than the R0 of 2.4 estimated for the original version of SARS-CoV-2.

R0 indicates how contagious is an infectious disease is.

The health authorities have so far vaccinated 12,053,137 with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while 5,311,784 have received both the doses. (Sheain Fernandopulle)