Vaccines highly effective against Indian variant, study shows
pharmafile | May 24, 2021 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
A new Public Health England (PHE) study shows that two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are highly effective against the B.1.617.2 (Indian) variant.
The effectiveness of two doses has shown to be the same as compared with the B.1.1.7 (Kent) variant, which is dominant in the UK.
PHE expects to see even higher levels of effectiveness against hospitalisation and death.
The study found that from the period 5 April to 16 May:
- The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 variant two weeks after the second dose, compared to 93% effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 variant
- Two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 60% effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 variant compared to 66% effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 variant
- Both vaccines were 33% effective against symptomatic disease from B.1.617.2, three weeks after the first dose compared to around 50% effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 variant
The difference in effectiveness between the vaccines after two doses may be explained by the fact that the rollout of second doses of AstraZeneca was later than for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and other data on antibody profiles show it takes longer to reach maximum effectiveness with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This new evidence is groundbreaking – and proves just how valuable our COVID-19 vaccination programme is in protecting the people we love.
“We can now be confident that over 20 million people – more than one in three – have significant protection against this new variant, and that number is growing by the hundreds of thousands every single day as more and more people get that vital second dose. I want to thank the scientists and clinicians who have been working around the clock to produce this research.
“It’s clear how important the second dose is to secure the strongest possible protection against COVID-19 and its variants – and I urge everyone to book in their jab when offered.”
Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at PHE, said: “This study provides reassurance that two doses of either vaccine offer high levels of protection against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 variant.
“We expect the vaccines to be even more effective at preventing hospitalisation and death, so it is vital to get both doses to gain maximum protection against all existing and emerging variants.”
In the UK, more than 60 million doses have been administered, and 33.1% of the population are fully vaccinated.
Lilly Subbotin
