An initial dose of vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech reduces the risk of coronavirus infection, Health Public England announced on Monday, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirming plans to relax the blocking rules.
According to data published when Johnson began speaking in Parliament about a dose of vaccine from the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer PFE on health workers under the age of 65,
and its partner BioNTech BNTX,
reduces the risk of infection by more than 70%, increasing to 85% after the second dose.
For those over 80 years of age, one dose is 57% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 disease after three or four weeks of inoculation, increasing by 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. To date, the inoculation campaign has focused on the elderly and front-line health workers.
The UK is also unique in choosing to delay the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech for 12 weeks. Pfizer studies suggest a 21-day interval between administration.
The health agency said there was “good” evidence to provide a second dose of the vaccine from the drug company AstraZeneca AZN,
and the University of Oxford will later lead to much higher levels of protection. Johnson said it was too early in the campaign to provide firm data on the vaccine.
Public Health Scotland has stated separately that its own research finds 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 significance of these studies is that they were conducted in real-world conditions, as opposed to controlled studies controlled by drug manufacturers.