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One of the unanswered questions about the different vaccines against coronavirus is whether it can help you not only to get sick but also to transmit the virus to others. A new study done in Israel has had very encouraging results on this topic.
The various vaccines currently in use around the world have been approved after studies showed that it was effective in preventing people from becoming seriously ill or dying from Covid-19 and, in particular, safe. But there were insufficient data at the time to finally say whether the vaccines could reduce the transmission of the virus, especially since concerns about asymptomatic carriers were still contagious.
According to an article by The Times of Israel, the country’s largest test laboratory, which handles more than 10,000 Covid-19 tests a day, reports that their data showed that ‘positive test results from patients aged 60 and older had up to 60 per cent smaller viral loads on the test swab as the -59 age group, begins mid-January, when most of Israel’s age 60 and older have already been vaccinated with at least one dose. ”
Professor Yaniv Erlich, the head of the laboratory that worked on the study, told the Times that the two age groups had “only negligible differences” before January 15, and after that date, the virus load for the 60-plus group began to decline.
‘We checked in early December and late December [data], but the virus burden among people over 60 has not changed, ”said Erlich. ‘And we saw the same thing when we checked in in early January. But suddenly, during the last two weeks in January, that is when many more than 60 Israelites finished vaccinating, the virus tax for this age group decreased. ”
In other words, if someone who has been vaccinated gets Covid-19, it appears that these data suggest that they will have a lower amount of virus in their nose and throat, the main ways in which the coronavirus is transmitted to other people.
The study is mostly relevant to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as it is the version most Israelis received, but last week the researchers working on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine released a study with hopeful signs that their vaccine can help reduce transmission. well.
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