KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The current rise in Covid-19 cases in the United Kingdom, three months after it lifted all coronavirus restrictions, can be attributed to multiple factors, including waning vaccine immunity, according to American cardiologist and Dr Eric Topol.
Dr Topol, who is also a professor of molecular medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, told CNN’s John Vause in an interview that countries like the UK, Israel, and the United States that rolled out their vaccines earlier are having the most waning immunity.
Covid-19 vaccinations in the UK began in December last year, which means that millions of the country’s over 68 million population have been vaccinated for more than six months.
“So, that’s part of it. It’s also the story of getting the teens vaccinated, which the UK is low on, compared to other countries in Europe. And the other thing of course to note is still at 66 per cent of the population in the UK that’s been vaccinated — the most successful countries around the world are at least 80 per cent,” Dr Topol said.
He added that lack of real mitigation could have also caused Covid-19 infections to rise.
“So, there are many different reasons that could contribute to the problems we’re seeing in the UK, and they’re probably going to be replicated in other countries,” Dr Topol said.
The UK currently has the highest infection rate in comparison to European countries, with 52,009 new coronavirus cases reported yesterday, the highest since July 17 and the ninth consecutive day where cases have been above 40,000.
