27 February 2021 | New Scientist | 7FINALLY, some good news. The
first real-world studies on the
effectiveness of two coronavirus
vaccines have shown they are
performing “spectacularly well”.
In the first of two results
announced this week, 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’s 5.4 million people,
1.1 million of whom received a
vaccine between 8 December
and 15 February.
By the fifth week after getting
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.
“We are very impressed with both
these vaccines,” says Sheikh. “Both
are working spectacularly well.”
Among people over 80, who
are most at risk from covid-19,
hospitalisations were reduced by
81 per cent when results from both
vaccines were combined. There
isn’t 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 that
this increases over time. Peak
protection appeared in the sixth
week, though at this point the databecomes unreliable because few
people had been vaccinated for
longer than this when the analysis
was carried out.
Meanwhile, an analysis 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.
The analysis used data from a
study that included 23,500 health
workers in England, 89 per cent
of whom were vaccinated. All
were routinely tested for the SARS-
CoV-2 virus between 7 December
and 5 February. “This is the firstThe first real-world covid-19 vaccine studies are showing impressive
results, report Graham Lawton and Adam VaughanVaccine data ‘spectacular’
News
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time this [type of study] has been
done in a systematic way for the
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine,” said
Susan Hopkins of PHE at a press
briefing on 22 February.
Further research from PHE
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 ofthe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine 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 of
PHE at the press briefing, and the
risk of death from covid-19 in this
age group was 57 per cent lower in
those who had received the jab.
“Not only is the vaccine
reducing the risk of someone
becoming a case, on top of that,
it’s reducing the risk of them
becoming hospitalised or dying,”
said Ramsay. She added 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 studies come as UK prime
minister Boris Johnson this
week revealed his four-stage
lockdown exit plan for England,
promising the summer would be
“incomparably better” than life
in lockdown.
However, while results like
those we have seen this week
offer hope for the future, UK chief
scientific adviser Patrick Vallance
emphasises caution, saying that
England’s road map out of
lockdown should proceed slowly
to avoid the risk of a resurgence
in covid-19 cases. In a press
conference, he warned that
coronavirus will be a problem
for the next few winters. ❚Staff administer vaccine
at a drive-through centre
in Musselburgh, Scotland“ Not only is the vaccine
reducing the risk of getting
covid-19, it’s reducing the
risk of dying from it”Daily coronavirus news round-up
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