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Fully vaccinated people are less likely to be infected with covid. I read that infections are decreased by 60 to 80 percent. However, the delta variant is 6x more contagious than the original variant. Does this mean that the risk of infection and transmission by fully vaccinated people with delta as the dominant variant is the same as the risk used to be for unvaccinated people when the original variant was dominant? I know that vaccination protects well against disease severity. I am just wondering about infection and transmission.
Vaccination protects from hospitalization, severe disease and death from any of the currently circulating variants. The Delta variant has been shown to be more transmissible and RNA for the Delta variant is found at higher levels in nasal swabs. Data suggests vaccinated people that are then infected with Delta clear the virus faster than unvaccinated. This more rapid clearance certainly suggests that transmission will be lower from a vaccinated person compared to an unvaccinated person. The actual dynamics of this transmission will depend on the infected persons health and environment while the receiving persons infection rate will depend on the same parameters.
