An initial dose of the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech reduces the risk of coronavirus infection, Public Health England announced on Monday, while UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed plans to relax the blocking rules.
According to data released when Johnson started speaking in Parliament about health professionals under the age of 65, a dose of the vaccine from the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer PFE,
and its partner BioNTech BNTX,
reduces the risk of contracting infection by more than 70%, increasing to 85% after the second dose.
For those over 80, one dose is 57% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 disease after three or four weeks of inoculation, increasing to more than 85% after the second dose.
Early data suggest that vaccinated people who continue to be infected are much less likely to die or be hospitalized, Public Health England added.
The United Kingdom was the first country to start administering the Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine. So far, the vaccination campaign has focused on the elderly and frontline health professionals.
The UK is also unique in its choice to delay the administration of second doses of Pfizer – BioNTech for 12 weeks. Pfizer’s own trials suggest an interval of 21 days between doses.
The health agency said there was “good” evidence giving the second dose of vaccine from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca AZN,
and the University of Oxford will later lead to much higher levels of protection. Johnson said it is too early in the campaign to provide firm data on the vaccine.
Public Health Scotland separately said that its own research found that the Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization by up to 85%, and the AstraZeneca – Oxford vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization by up to 94%.
The importance of these studies is that they were conducted in real-world environments, as opposed to controlled studies controlled by drug manufacturers.