Last checked at 
* Javid says symptoms are mild, awaiting PCR-confirmation
* Health minister had received two AstraZeneca shots
* Vaccines offer high - but not total - COVID protection
(Adds detail on vaccine effectiveness against Delta)
By Alistair Smout
LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - British health minister Sajid
Javid on Saturday said he had tested positive for COVID-19, but
added that his symptoms were mild and he was thankful to have
had had two doses of vaccine against the disease.
Javid, who has been health secretary for three weeks, has
backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to scrap all
remaining legal coronavirus restrictions from Monday, despite a
fresh surge of cases fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta
variant.
"This morning I tested positive for COVID," Javid said in a
tweet, adding he had taken a rapid lateral flow test, and was
awaiting confirmation from a PCR test, which needs processing in
a laboratory.
"I'm waiting for my PCR result, but thankfully I have had my
jabs and symptoms are mild."
Javid tweeted on March 17 that he had received a first shot
of Oxford/AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, posting a
picture of him getting a second dose on May 16.
Vaccines are not 100% effective at preventing infection, but
fully-vaccinated people are less likely to get seriously ill
with COVID-19 even if they can test positive.
Real-world analysis published by Public Health England has
found that two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are 60%
effective against symptomatic disease from the Delta variant and
92% effective against hospitalisation.
Britain is facing a new wave of cases of COVID-19, but
Johnson and Javid claim the vaccine programme has largely broken
the link between COVID-19 cases and mortality, although Johnson
has said that the country should reconcile itself to the
prospect of more deaths from COVID.
Britain has the seventh highest COVID-19 death toll in the
world, and has fully vaccinated two-thirds of adults, although
it is not vaccinating children.
Some scientists have warned that the government's reopening
plans for England are dangerous given the significant number of
people who remain unvaccinated and the fact that vaccines are
not 100% effective.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Catherine Evans and
Christina Fincher)
