http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/hugging-england-allowed-after-june-5349977
Hugging in England may be allowed after June 21
It comes as a new study from Public Health England (PHE) shows that a
single dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines
can slash virus transmission by up to half
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ByNeil ShawNetwork Content Editor
09:20, 28 APR 2021UPDATED11:52, 28 APR 2021
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Hugging in England may be allowed after June 21
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People may be able to hug their loved ones after June 21, a Government
scientific adviser has said, as a new study shows a single jab cuts
virus transmission by up to half.
Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the
Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M) group,
suggested the decision on whether social distancing would be needed
after the June road map date could be a political one.
However, he said vaccines were doing the job of preventing most people
falling seriously ill, and he was hopeful hugs would be back on the
agenda by the date the Government has set for lifting legal limits on
social contact.
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It comes as a new study from Public Health England (PHE) shows that a
single dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines
can slash virus transmission by up to half.
The breakthrough findings offer further hope that the pandemic can be
brought under control as vaccinated people are far less likely to pass
the virus onto others.
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The study found that those given a single dose of a jab, and who became
infected at least three weeks later, were between 38% and 49% less
likely to pass the virus on to people living in their homes, compared to
those who were unvaccinated.
Speaking on Times Radio, Dr Tildesley was asked at what stage people
will be able to be close to another person, such as a family member, if
both have been vaccinated.
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He said: “I think this is really difficult because of course, in a
sense, this becomes more of a sort of a political decision rather than
an epidemiological decision because we have been told that on June 21
all of these legal limits on contact will be removed, but it’s still
unclear exactly what that means.
“Whether that means that on that date some social distancing will be in
place or whether all of those will be removed and you’ll be able to go
and hug your loved ones…
“I think the key thing is that if you’re both vaccinated, of course, it
does reduce the risk of anyone becoming severely ill and my hope is that
as we move towards that June date, we will be in a position that we can
not just see our loved ones, but also we can hug our loved ones because
it’s been a very long time since we’ve been able to do that.”
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He said there was a need for ongoing monitoring of the situation,
including of what happens when people are allowed to mix indoors again.
From May 17, up to two households, or six individuals from other
households (the rule of six), will be able to meet inside.
Dr Tildesley said: “We obviously do need to monitor the data as we get
to the main relaxation, when you are allowed to go inside people’s
households, it’s really important that we monitor that data and ensure
that we don’t get a resurgence at that point.”
The PHE study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, included over 57,000
people living in 24,000 households who were the contacts of a vaccinated
person.
They were compared with nearly one million contacts of people who had
not had a vaccine.
Contacts were defined as secondary cases of coronavirus if they tested
positive two to 14 days after the initial household case.
Other studies have already shown that both vaccines are highly effective
at stopping people getting sick and ending up in hospital.
Experts will now assess whether two doses of vaccine can cut
transmission of the virus even further, and more work is being carried
out on transmission in the general population.
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Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the study,
saying: “This is terrific news, we already know vaccines save lives and
this study is the most comprehensive real-world data showing they also
cut transmission of this deadly virus.
“It further reinforces that vaccines are the best way out of this
pandemic as they protect you and they may prevent you from unknowingly
infecting someone in your household.
“I urge everybody to get their vaccines as soon as they are eligible and
make sure you get your second dose for the strongest possible protection.”
Dr Tildesley told BBC Breakfast he thought the PHE findings on
transmission were “significant”.
He said the study offered “extra evidence to suggest we do need as many
people to be vaccinated as possible, even if you are not at severe risk
of developing severe symptoms, because that way we’re getting much
higher levels of protection across the population, protecting the
vulnerable and, hopefully, further reducing the number of people who
will get severely ill and sadly die from the disease”.
The vaccines’ effects on cutting transmission are likely to be even
higher after two doses, though further evidence was needed, he added.
He said the UK was in a good position and the fact the “vaccines seem to
be effective hopefully puts us in a good position to continue with the
road map and the full relaxation by June 21”.
Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the Covid-19 clinical information
network, described the PHE results as “very, very reassuring and
“certainly better than many of us expected just a few months ago”.
He told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It shows that the immune
system is doing something a lot more than we were expecting of it really.”
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He added that, with two doses, the outcome is “almost certainly going to
be even better”.
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said vaccines were “vital
in helping us return to a normal way of life”.
She added: “Not only do vaccines reduce the severity of illness and
prevent hundreds of deaths every day, we now see they also have an
additional impact on reducing the chance of passing Covid-19 on to others.”
The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are credited with having saved
10,400 lives among the over-60s as of the end of March.
Data out last week from the national Covid-19 Infection Survey run by
the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
also found that vaccines are likely to cut transmission.
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Just one dose of either the Pfizer BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccines cut
coronavirus cases by two-thirds and were 74% effective against
symptomatic infection, according to the real-world UK data.
After two doses of Pfizer, there was a 70% reduction in all cases and a
90% drop in symptomatic cases, these are the people who are most likely
to transmit coronavirus to others.