By abolishing all public health restrictions with just half of the population fully vaccinated, the UK could produce new variants that evade vaccine-induced immunity. READ MORE:* UK health chief: England will lift all Covid-19 lockdown restrictions* Covid-19: New data suggests herd immunity unachievable in New Zealand* Vaccinations alone will not provide full protection when NZ opens its borders* Are vaccines already helping contain Covid-19? That is, while vaccines remain highly effective at reducing severe disease, hospitalisations and deaths from existing variants of the virus, new variants could threaten that. If new variants reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, that extends the needed threshold for population immunity. It would necessitate ongoing, low-level public health restrictions for an extended period of time, if not indefinitely.

Source: Stuff July 12, 2021 17:48 UTC