Professor Walker – of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford University – clarified her position on the UK’s “situation” on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Although her latest research demonstrated that the Covid vaccine programme has been a success, Walker warned: “Look at India… how quickly and badly it can go again.” Around 370,000 people in the UK general population were involved in Walker’s research.
Her study showed that the chances of becoming infected with Covid fell sharply after the first dose of the vaccine.
From this, Walker recognised that vaccines are a “huge opportunity to control the pandemic”.
The vaccines have “successfully” been controlling the virus, and It’s “much better” than enduring painful lockdowns.
In an effort to prevent further, more sinister mutations of the virus, “we need to get infections down”.
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Walker explained that having a Covid vaccine doesn’t stop you from catching the virus completely – it “doesn’t provide 100 per cent protection”.
However, it will lessen the impact of the viral attack and help to “slow the spread” of Covid.
Even though the severity of the situation has moved from pandemic to endemic status, there’s always the potential for the situation to escalate.
“The virus isn’t going away,” emphasised Walker – with SARS-CoV-2 being the third most deadly disease in the UK.
During the past seven days, the number of people testing positive for the virus has decided by up to eight per cent.
The figure for the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test has also decreased by around 26 per cent.
The success of the vaccine roll-out can also be seen in the lower number of people who have been admitted to hospital in the past week.
It’s vital to keep a close eye on these statistics to know if further easing of lockdown can go ahead.