An initial dose of the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech reduces the risk of coronavirus infection, Public Health England announced on Monday as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed his plans to relax blocking rules .
According to data released when Johnson began speaking in Parliament about health workers 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 the infection by more than 70%, to 85% after the second dose.
For people over 80, a dose is 57% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 disease after three to four weeks of inoculation, increasing to more than 85% after the second dose.
Early data suggest vaccinated people who become 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 inoculation campaign has focused on the elderly and front-line health workers.
The UK is also unique in delaying the administration of second doses of Pfizer – BioNTech to 12 weeks. Pfizer’s own assays suggest a 21-day interval between dosing.
The health agency said there is “good” evidence giving the second dose of the vaccine from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca AZN,
and Oxford University will subsequently lead to much higher levels of protection. Johnson said it was too early in the campaign to give firm data on this vaccine.
Public Health Scotland said separately 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.