A pioneering study promoted by researchers at the University of Oxford and the Autonomous University of Barcelona concluded that the Pfizer vaccine reduced the mortality of residential users by 98%, and the possibility of being hospitalized by 97% after the second dose.
The research, published in the scientific journal The Lancet, is the world’s first study on the clinical efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine in nursing homes and also shows that the effect on nursing home workers has led to a reduction in infections level 95% in health, 92% in resident staff and 88% in the elderly.
The study, in which the autonomous government of Catalonia (northeast) also participates, is signed, among others, by the professor of the Center for Statistics in Medicine at the University of Oxford, Daniel Prieto-Alhambra; the Secretary of Public Health of Catalonia, Josep Maria Argimon; and the person responsible for vaccination in Catalonia, Carmen Cabezas.
In addition, the article states that the first dose already generates a reduction of infections between 50 and 60% in the entire sample studied, as Daniel Prieto-Alhambra pointed out in statements to a radio station.
The research study sample includes 28,594 users of residences in Catalonia, 26,238 employees of these centers and 61,951 health workers.
The researchers also explain that although vaccines have been shown to be effective in clinical trials, there is still more research to be done in routine settings and in groups of populations usually underrepresented in study samples.
On the other hand, The results clarify that, analyzing the data of the first 12 days after the first vaccination, a period in which the dose should not have a significant effect, there are also reductions of 15 to 20% in infections, suggesting other uncontrolled factors that influence the phenomenon.
However, the study clarifies that the final results are the result of a two-month monitoring and that, in any case, the sample will continue to be studied for new long-term results in the future.
The researchers point out that the findings “should reassure the public about the main benefits associated with the ongoing vaccination campaign in Spain and elsewhere”.
The study also cites other studies with similar results, such as one conducted in Scotland on the general population with a 85-94% reduction in the risk of infection and another in England for hospital staff, which showed a reduction in 72% single dose infections.
For his part, Daniel Prieto-Alhambra assured that the results are important, because “they make us believe that we have the capacity to reduce the occurrence of cases in residences and the transmission of the community”.
The teacher congratulated himself for the results: “They’re spectacular; it’s one of those graphics that you repeat three times to make sure you’re not wrong.”
Prieto-Alhambra also said that, given the dates of the first doses, “if the second dose is extended longer than the recommended three weeks, nothing happens, because the risk of infection is already much lower.”