Finally, some good news. The first real-world studies on the effectiveness of two coronavirus vaccines have shown they are performing 鈥渟pectacularly well鈥�.
In the , one dose of vaccine cut hospitalisations due to covid-19 in Scotland by more than 85 per cent.
The research, led by five Scottish universities and Public Health Scotland, involved 99 per cent of Scotland鈥檚 5.4 million people, 1.1 million of whom received a vaccine between 8 December and 15 February.
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By the fifth week after receiving their first dose, those who received the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab had reduced their risk of hospitalisation by 94 per cent, and those who received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by 85 per cent.
Aziz Sheikh at the University of Edinburgh says this is probably the first national report of its kind. 鈥淲e are very, very impressed with both these vaccines,鈥� says Sheikh. 鈥淏oth are working spectacularly well.鈥�
Among people over 80, who are most at risk from covid-19, hospitalisation was reduced by 81 per cent when results from both vaccines were combined. There isn鈥檛 enough data yet to separate out the effects of the two different vaccines in this age group.
The results also showed that the jabs offer some protection seven days after vaccination, and this increases over time. Peak protection appeared in the sixth week, though at this point the data becomes unreliable because few people had been vaccinated for longer than this when the analysis was carried out.
A second study from Public Health England (PHE) showed that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine prevented 70 per cent of asymptomatic and symptomatic infections in people under 65 after one dose. The protection appeared to take effect around 14 days after vaccination.
included 23,500 health workers in England, 89 per cent of whom were vaccinated. All participants were routinely tested for SARS-CoV-2 between 7 December and 5 February.聽鈥淭his is the first time this [type of study] has been done in a systematic way for the Pfzier/BioNTech vaccine,鈥� said Susan Hopkins of PHE at a press briefing on 22 February.
looked at 12,000 people aged 80 and over in England, who are less likely to get effective protection from the vaccine than younger people, and found a single dose was 57 per cent effective at stopping symptomatic infections 28 days later.
Protection against severe disease was found to be at least 75 per cent, said Mary Ramsay at PHE, and the risk of death from covid-19 in this age group was also 57 per cent lower in those that had received the vaccine.
鈥淣ot only is the vaccine reducing the risk of someone becoming a case, on top of that it鈥檚 reducing the risk of them becoming hospitalised or dying,鈥� said Ramsay. She adds that the study also shows the vaccine offers protection against the variant of the virus first identified in Kent, which is more transmissible and potentially more deadly.
The good news comes as UK prime minister Boris Johnson today sets out his plans for releasing England from lockdown. However, while studies like these offer some hope for the future, UK chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance continues to emphasise caution, saying England鈥檚 roadmap out of lockdown should proceed slowly to avoid the risk of a resurgence in covid-19 cases.
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