As the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to adapt to the human host, it has been transforming itself in ways that can escape immune protection. Omicron and its sub-lineages are ruling the world at this time, and it is important to know how well the vaccines are doing. For many reasons, real-world (field) experience is often different from the original efficacy studies conducted by vaccine manufacturers.
A&E visit
A recent study posted as a preprint in medRxiv, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, compared the real-world experience with Delta and Omicron, specifically addressing the risk of requiring a visit to the casualty or A&E (Accidents and Emergency, in the U.K.) among COVID-positive individuals of varying vaccination status. For the purpose of the study, visit to the casualty or A&E was used as an approximate marker of severity of disease, although an A&E visit can also be triggered for reasons other than COVID pneumonia The study by Daniel J. Grint and others looked at 2,37,430 people who got infected with Omicron, and 92,950 people with Delta in the U.K. during the month of December 2021.
