The data show that two doses of vaccine are needed to have strong protection against the variants found in India

Research by the new UK government suggests that two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are needed to provide strong protection against symptomatic infections from the first-identified coronavirus variant in India, according to two people who have reported preliminary data.

Two doses of the vaccine provided 81 per cent protection against the B. 1,617.2 variant found in India, and 87 per cent against the B.1.1.7 strain first identified in south-east England in Kent, according to Government Health England news and was presented at a meeting of the Creators ’Threat Advisory Group (Nervtag).

Two people who attended the Nervtag meeting on Friday said the data show that a dose protects 33% against symptomatic infections from B. 1,617.2 and 51% from B.1.1.7.

This suggests that a single shot would protect 35 percent less against B. 1.617.2 compared to B.1.1.7, according to an analysis by the Financial Times.

PHE figures include data from BioNTech / Pfizer and Oxford / AstraZeneca jabs.

B. 1.617.2 The rapid spread in the pockets of England has left the country’s roadmap blocked, and the next phase will be on 21 June.

The PHE said: “Public Health scientists in England are evaluating the effectiveness of vaccines against variant B. 1.617.2 of Sars-Cov-2. We will publish the results of this evaluation in due course.”

New PHE research will likely emphasize the importance of taking two doses of Covid-19 vaccines to protect against B. 1.617.2.

Last week the government reduced the dose gap for people over 50 to 12 weeks to ensure that the most vulnerable in the UK received full protection from the vaccine as soon as possible. Vaccines have also increased to B. 1,617.2 in hot spots such as Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen.

A model presented at the Nervtag meeting on Friday by Neil Ferguson, chief epidemiologist at Imperial College London, supported a new PHE study that found that a single vaccine dose was about 50 per cent lower than B. 1.617.2. Compared to B.1.1.7, and a 20 per cent reduction on the other.

Figures for the reduction in efficacy are compared with estimates of the first-observed variant B.1.351 in South Africa, where a single dose of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine protected only 17% against confirmed Covid-19 infection, 75 percent after two doses.

Scientists in the UK have been racing to find out if B. 1.617.2 is more transmissive than other variants in circulation, especially B.1.1.7.

A model released by government advisers last week suggested that it could be about 50 per cent more transmissible than B.1.1.7, although new data may not have been as large as the previous week.

According to data released by Bolton on Friday, sustained protection against vaccines was noted, with Covid-19 cases being at a much lower level among older people who preferred owners over younger adults.

General coronavirus infections have risen slightly in the UK over the past week, according to the Office for National Statistics.