“Delta+” new variant spreads 11 countries Australia vaccine plan can keep up with the changes? -ABC News

The Ministry of Health of India warned that the latest mutation of the new coronavirus delta variant, called the “Delta Plus” variant (Delta Plus).

As of June 16, at least 197 cases of infection with the new “Delta+” variant have been reported in 11 countries around the world. Including Britain (36 cases), Canada (1 case), India (8 cases), Japan (15 cases), Nepal (3 cases), Poland (9 cases), Portugal (22 cases), Russia (1 case), Switzerland (18 cases), Turkey (1 case) and the United States (83 cases).

The Indian government said on Wednesday (23rd) that about 40 patients were observed to be infected with the new “Delta+” variant in Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, but “the prevalence rate has not increased significantly.”

At present, the first case of a new variant of “Delta+” discovered in India comes from a test sample collected on April 5. In addition, the United Kingdom stated that the first five cases infected with this variant completed genetic sequencing on April 26. These infected persons had visited Nepal and Turkey respectively.

An alliance of Indian government research laboratories said that the Delta+ variant is not only more infectious, but some vaccines may not be able to deal with this new variant.

On the latest “Live Australia” program broadcast by ABC Chinese, several Australian public health experts gave detailed interpretations on the safety of this new variant virus, vaccination and AstraZeneca vaccine.

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Professor Liu Chaojie, an expert on the public health system of La Trobe University, said on the program that the mutation of the virus does not mean that the existing vaccines are completely ineffective against them.

“Because this virus is in the process of mutation, it may only change in one part, while many other parts may not have changed much,” he said.

Professor Liu explained that the reason why the virus mutates is that “it spreads widely, continuously and repeatedly in the population. If it lacks such a widespread environment, it will not produce this kind of mutation.” .

Professor Liu said that vaccination formally creates such an environment to prevent the virus from mutating in the majority of the population.

Professor Li Mu, an international public health expert at the University of Sydney, agrees with Professor Liu that she believes that vaccination itself is a measure to prevent further mutation of the virus.

“If we can’t stop the virus from spreading, we can be sure[变异]It will happen constantly. Today is Delta, tomorrow may be Gamma or something else, and it will continue,” Professor Li Mu said.

In addition, Associate Professor Feng Xiaoqi, an expert on public health and environmental health at the University of New South Wales, said in response to the relationship between the existing vaccine and the delta+ variant that the public “cannot wait for a new vaccine forever”, and that the existing vaccine is effective Sex can be guaranteed.

Last week, the Australian Federal Government further restricted the age of the recommended population of AstraZeneca vaccines in accordance with the latest medical recommendations. Currently, people under the age of 60 are recommended to receive Pfizer vaccines.

As the Governor of New South Wales Berejiklian announced the closure of the four local government districts at midnight on the 25th, health experts recommended that the public be vaccinated to slow down the time and intensity of the lockdown.

However, in the context of the rapid development and changes of the epidemic, the Australian vaccination plan has been unable to achieve the set goals. The proportion of the fully vaccinated population is only slightly more than 4%, which is far from the level of group epidemic prevention.

AstraZeneca vaccine will gradually fade out

AstraZeneca vaccine has always been a variable in the federal vaccination plan.

Unlike other vaccines, the AstraZeneca vaccine can be produced locally in Melbourne. This should have been able to quickly spread the vaccination work across Australia. However, because a very small number of people diagnosed with haemorrhagic disease or even died after vaccination, the Australian government has three times. Adjusted the vaccination recommendations for this vaccine.

This week, the federal government stated that after October this year, AstraZeneca vaccine will gradually withdraw from the vaccination plan, and the vaccines used in Australia will be mainly Pfizer and Modena.

Hua Bin, a registered nurse in Melbourne, works on the front line of the medical system. In an interview with ABC Chinese, he said that the federal government’s “improving the age limit for AstraZeneca vaccination” will “greatly impact” the confidence of the people.

Professor Liu Chaojie also believes that in the process of adjustment, some people may feel frustrated, or they may feel that their confidence in the vaccine “has some decline.” But he also emphasized that such changes are “appropriate adjustments.”

Associate Professor Feng Xiaoqi added: “If[政府]When it feels that it needs to be corrected, it won’t stick to it[原来的计划], Will feed back the information to us in a timely manner, so this is actually a positive message. “

The first dose hit AstraZeneca. Can the second dose hit Pfizer?

While announcing the changes to the AstraZeneca vaccination plan, the Federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly encouraged people who had already received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine to stick to the second dose.

He emphasized that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in fighting the epidemic “far exceed” the potential risk of thrombosis.

At present, research on “mixing” different brands of vaccines has been carried out in other countries.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report, the German Federal Government announced on the 22nd that Chancellor Merkel had completed two doses of vaccinations. Her first dose was AstraZeneca and the second dose was Modena.

According to the early results of a German study, after the AstraZeneca vaccine, the effect of mixing Pfizer vaccine is better than the effect of continuing AstraZeneca vaccination.

Australia has not yet adopted such a “smash” program to deal with the decline in public confidence in AstraZeneca.

Professor Li Mu believes that Australia currently does not have a clear recommendation to indicate whether it can be “mixed”, and its potential problems may involve the limited supply of vaccines.

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She believes that with the official expansion of the upper limit of Pfizer vaccination age from 50 to 60, this means that the number of people waiting to be vaccinated with Pfizer will increase.

Secondly, she believes that “mixing” may cause a longer queue period for appointments.

“More and more data show that protection will be more effective after two shots. Instead of waiting for the second shot to get Pfizer, it’s better to get AstraZeneca,” she said.

Professor Liu Chaojie has received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, and he said that he will still choose this vaccine for his second dose.

“From my personal point of view, I am confident that I will get two shots. If the first shot does not have too many side effects, it is generally safer to get the second shot,” he said.