Could rampant Delta affect vaccine effectiveness?

And while the Delta variant is more transmissible that the other variants, there is also a concern that if its spread goes unmitigated the protection that the vaccine offers can become less effective. As Doctor Musa explains it, this will be as a result of a newer mutation spreading in the unvaccinated population.

Dr. Mark Musa, Internist

Dr. Mark Musa

“If you notice all of these variants have started in large populations, highly dense cities, in largely unvaccinated people at the time. So, the surges have been astronomical, in terms of the speed of transmissibility. In that, it is naive to everybody who hasn’t faced the virus before. And, the quicker the virus spreads it has more chance to mutate, its genes to mutate. So the initial concern for the delta is it is more transmissible. But, there will come a time, if we allow the spread to go unmitigated, that there is a concern whether the vaccine might not offer the protection, and that the virus causes mutations that make the vaccine less effective.”