Covid transmission seen dropping among vaccinated age groups

Preliminary data on the efficacy of the vaccinations against the novel coronavirus indicate a drop in transmission among immunized groups, Athens University Rector Thanos Dimopoulos said on Saturday.

“We are seeing a drop in cases among age groups that have been vaccinated. The situation allows some optimism concerning forecasts for the weeks ahead,” Dimopoulos, a doctor who is also on the government’s coronavirus advisory committee, told Mega television, without providing specific data.

Dimopoulos also appeared upbeat about the overall course of the virus in Greece right now, saying that the transmission rate has dropped to just below the 1 RT threshold and hospital admissions appear to be stabilizing, while hailing the vaccination program that has already covered 6% of the population and will be expanding to cover more vulnerable groups in the coming weeks.

Commenting on the two variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that have been sweeping through Europe, Dimopoulos said that the data appear to show that the existing vaccines are effective against the British strain, though the same cannot be said about the South African variant.

“The effectiveness of the vaccinations on people infected with this variant is down by more than 50%,” Dimopoulos claimed.