The UK has been intently monitoring its vaccine program and the rise in circumstances

New Yorkers, 12 and older, will be vaccinated on June 13, 2021 at the St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx of New York City, United States.

Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

LONDON – The UK has one of the highest Covid-19 vaccination rates in the world but is seeing a new surge in coronavirus cases, largely due to the Delta variant, which originally came from India.

Experts say the latest UK data will be given a lot of attention as it could be an editorial for others. And there are fears that where the UK is now performing, others – like the US – may follow suit.

“All eyes (are) on the UK Covid trends,” said Kallum Pickering, Senior Economist and Director of Berenberg Bank, in a statement on Tuesday.

“Great Britain, with its high vaccination rate but an increasing number of infections recorded daily, has developed into a test case for whether a mass vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 can bring” [an] End of the repeated cycles of lockdowns and other harsh social distancing protocols that have had a devastating impact on the global economy since the pandemic began in early 2019, “he said.

Pickering noted that medical data suggests that the UK’s high vaccination rate has severely weakened the link between registered Covid infections and complications from the disease, which supports the bank’s claim that “Britain can weather the new wave of infections without having to tighten the restrictions and “with only limited economic damage.”

Pickering said the data indicated that this wave of infections was different from the previous ones, with the number of registered infections increasing more slowly than the previous wave, and that despite the increase in cases, there has been no clear increase in deaths.

Second, he found that new admissions to the hospital had risen less than the registered infections – and much less than during the winter wave.

Reopening on track?

Deutsche Bank research strategist Jim Reid noted on Wednesday that while there is “persistent concern” about the spread of the Delta variant, “the only good news is that the age distribution of cases in the latest wave has moved significantly lower compared to the previous “. Waves.”

Younger age groups are affected by the virus much less often than older people. But the longer the boys remain unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, the virus is allowed to spread and possibly more variants can emerge.

So far, the vaccines have been shown to be resistant to new variants and remain largely effective in preventing serious Covid-19 for fully vaccinated people. An analysis published by Public Health England last Monday found that two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech or AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines were highly effective against hospitalizations from the Delta variant.

In order to fully vaccinate more people, the UK government has postponed the lifting of the remaining Covid restrictions in England until July 19. She has insisted that the lifting of restrictions on that date is still on track despite the proliferation of the Delta variant.

“The risk that the reopening could be reversed remains low,” said Pickering von Berenberg.

“The UK is far from where medical capacity could be stretched to the point where new restrictions would be required,” he noted, adding that the continued rapid introduction of vaccines in the coming weeks could even lead to that the daily infections run on a plateau before it falls afterwards.

“While the pandemic is far from over and potential new variants that render the current generation of vaccines ineffective are a serious risk, recent virus and vaccine developments support our positive economic outlook for the UK and other advanced economies,” he said.

Winter wave?

What will come later this year when the flu season starts is more uncertain. England’s chief medical officer warned last week that the coming winter will continue to be difficult for the country’s health system despite the country’s successful coronavirus vaccination program.

In a speech to the NHS Confederation last Thursday, England Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said the current wave of Covid infections due to the Delta variant is likely to be followed by a further surge in winter.

Covid-19 “didn’t bring us its final surprise and there will be a few more [variants] over the next period, “he said, according to Sky News. He added that it would likely be five years before there are vaccines that could highly” hold the line “against a range of coronavirus variants.

And until then, new vaccination programs and booster vaccinations are necessary. Some countries, like the US and UK, have already signaled that they could introduce Covid-19 booster vaccinations within a year, but pressure is mounting on governments to mobilize refresher programs – not an easy task given the ongoing uncertainties surrounding the pandemic , Vaccines and variants.