First Vaccine Dose Cuts Transmission And Hospitalisation: UK Studies

Data from two separate studies released in the United Kingdom on Monday, one in England and one in Scotland, have shown that Covid-19 vaccines are effective in reducing transmission of disease and hospitalizations from the first dose.

Analysis from Public Health England has shown the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech reduces the risk of catching infection by more than 70 percent after a first dose. That risk is reduced by 85 percent after a second dose, reports AFP.

The review of real-world evidence by the public health organization also found that vaccinated individuals who appear to become infected are much less likely to die or be hospitalized.

According to the study, among those who have received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, hospitalization and mortality from Covid-19 was decreased by over 75%.

“This crucial report shows vaccines are working — it is extremely encouraging to see evidence that the Pfizer vaccine offers a high degree of protection against coronavirus,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

Britain is one of the countries hardest-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with 120,757 deaths.

It was the first nation to begin mass vaccinations in December and more than 17 million people have now received at least a first vaccine dose — one-third of the UK’s adult population.

“We will see much more data over the coming weeks and months but we should be very encouraged by these initial findings,” Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at Public Health England, said.

-‘National evidence’-

At the same time, a study in Scotland found that Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines contributed to a decline in the amount of Covid-19 hospital admissions after the first dose.

The study, led by the University of Edinburgh, showed that the Pfizer vaccine decreased the risk of hospitalization with Covid by up to 85 percent by the fourth week after receiving the initial dose.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the risk by 94 percent.

“These results are very encouraging and have given us great reasons to be optimistic for the future,” Professor Aziz Sheikh, who lead the research, said in a statement.

“We now have national evidence — across an entire country — that vaccination provides protection against Covid-19 hospitalisations.

“Roll-out of the first vaccine dose now needs to be accelerated globally to help overcome this terrible disease,” he added.

The research compared the outcomes of those who had received their first jab with those who had not.

It found that vaccination was associated with an 81-percent reduction in hospitalisation risk in the fourth week among those aged 80 years and over, when the results for both vaccines were combined.

– ‘Extremely promising’ –

The project, which used patient data to track the pandemic and the vaccine roll-out in real time, analysed a dataset covering the entire Scottish population of 5.4 million between December 8 and February 15.

Some 1.14 million vaccines were administered to 21 percent of the Scottish population during the period.

650,000 people in Scotland got the Pfizer vaccine, while 490,000 had the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

It is the first study to explain the effect of vaccines across the country on the prevention of serious illnesses resulting in hospitalization.

Previous results about vaccine efficacy have come from clinical trials.

The study team said the findings were applicable to other countries using the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

The data reported “is extremely promising,” said Arne Akbar, the president of the British Society for Immunology.

“Although there does seem to be some difference in effectiveness levels measured across age groups, the reduction in hospitalisations for the older age groups is still impressively high,” he said.

“We now need to understand how long-lasting this protection is for one dose of the vaccine.”