First real-world coronavirus vaccine data in Britain show decline in infections, hospitalizations after first dose - The Washington Post

LONDON — In the first study to describe the nationwide effectiveness of two vaccines, researchers in Scotland reported Monday that both the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca shots greatly reduced hospital admissions from covid-19 among the elderly — by up to 85 percent and 94 percent, respectively.

British public health officials hailed the results from the “real-world” studies showing that the vaccines are beginning to have a positive impact in the coronavirus pandemic.

The Scottish researchers analyzed a data set covering the entire Scottish population of 5.4 million, of which 1.1 million people — about 20 percent of the population — have received a first dose of the Pfizer or Oxford vaccine.

From December until the middle of February, more than 8,000 people ended up in the hospital with covid-19 in Scotland, but only 58 of those patients came from the vaccinated group.

Combining results for both vaccines for people 80 and older, there was an overall 81 percent reduction in hospital admission by the fourth week, said Aziz Sheikh, professor of primary care research and development at the University of Edinburgh and one of the principal investigators.

Josie Murray of Public Health Scotland, another leader in the study, told science journalists “the other fantastic news” is that the vaccines should already be helping reduce the covid burden on National Health Service hospitals.

They looked at the effectiveness of just one vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech, which has been shown to be 96 percent effective in preventing hospitalizations and death.

In a second study, also released Monday, Public Health England (PHE) scientists presented preliminary data showing that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine appears to provide high levels of protection not only against symptomatic covid-19 but against coronavirus infection.

Researchers have been examining a cohort of vaccinated health-care workers every two weeks — whether or not they have covid-19 symptoms — and they found that one dose reduced the risk of infection by more than 70 percent, rising to 85 percent after the second dose.