Delta variant found in the Cayman Islands.
(RCN) The highly infectious Delta variant has been found in the Cayman Islands, through the Genetic Sequencing machine in the HSA. The variant was found in two travellers, both vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine at the HSA earlier in the year.
Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee said, “Given the prevalence of the Delta variant in the United Kingdom, it was only a matter of time before it was detected in the Cayman Islands. It will also be of concern that both these people were fully vaccinated: I can report that one is asymptomatic, and the other has only mild symptoms. They both remain in isolation under the care of Public Health. For me, this reiterates and reinforces the need to be vaccinated to benefit from protection against serious illness and death, even with these more infectious variants.”
Studies focused on vaccine efficacy against the Delta variant by Bernal et al on 21st July 2021 found the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be 88% effective against symptomatic disease, whereas it is 94% effective against the Alpha variant.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been offered on a limited basis in the Cayman Islands, was found to be 60% effective against symptomatic disease and 93% effective against hospitalisation. The studies tracked participants in the UK who were fully vaccinated with both recommended doses.
