As the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads and the vaccination campaigns are still ongoing, massive misinformation surrounding this highly contagious strain is being spread all over the Internet. These pas few weeks, the number of Covid cases has been growing exponentially – even in countries with a high vaccination rate. This fact has led to various conspiracy theories with people claiming that the delta mutation may have been caused by the vaccine, that it’s part of a plan to force vaccinations on younger age groups, or even that this variant doesn’t actually exist. So how to respond to these allegations?
Delta, also known as B.1.617.2 has been described as “the most transmissible of the variants identified so far” by the head of the World Health Organization. Since it was first detected in India in December 2020, it has been reported in at least 98 countries, and scientists say it spreads about 225% faster than the original version of the virus. Today, the delta variant makes up a majority of new Covid-19 cases. As we know, viruses smuggle their genetic information into a host cell in order to multiply. With each reproduction, there are small copying errors that change the genetic code of the virus. So it is perfectly normal that the virus is constantly mutating, creating new variants. In the process of evolution of a virus, the strongest mutation prevails, which means that the most infectious variant supresses the less dangerous forms of the virus. This is precisely what happened with delta. And although this variant is more resistant to the currently used vaccines, the current state of research shows that complete vaccination continues to provide strong protection against it. More research is being done at the moment, and will determine how effective the vaccines are against Delta.
So no, the delta variant wasn’t caused by the vaccine – it is a natural process that needs to be taken seriously.
Read more about this topic in this study.
Emma Suleiman
