The two vaccines against Covid-19 are starting to reduce the number of people being hospitalised with Covid-19, scientists from the University of Bristol have revealed.
It’s the first major local study of the effectiveness of both the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines and analysed admissions to hospital from December 18 to February 26 at two large NHS hospitals in the Bristol area.
And for the first time in Bristol, the researchers from the Avon CAP study have said there is clear evidence that the hospital admissions for covid among people over the age of 80 - who started to receive the vaccine before Christmas - are being affected by the vaccine.
The study identified 434 cases from December 18 onwards, which was ten days after the vaccination programme began.
“By taking the acute respiratory disease cases who had a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 on hospital admission and those whose test was negative and comparing the immunisation rates in the two groups, the effectiveness of one dose of the vaccines has been estimated,” said a spokesperson for the University of Bristol.
“One dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which began to be used on December 8, 2020, was shown to be 71.4 per cent effective (95 per cent confidence interval [CI] 46.5-90.6) from 14 days after one dose at preventing symptomatic illness severe enough to result in hospitalisation. The patients studied had a median age of 87 years.
“One dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which began to be used on January 4, 2021, was shown to be 80.4 per cent effective (95 per cent CI 36.4-94.5) from 14 days after one dose at preventing symptomatic illness severe enough to result in hospitalisation. The patients studied had a median age of 88 years.
“When observations were reconciled to cover the same time period in early 2021, the observed effectiveness of one dose of the two vaccines were almost identical (Pfizer-BioNTech 79.3 per cent and Oxford-AstraZeneca 80.4 per cent),” he added.
“The public health implications of these findings are significant not only for the UK but also for other countries currently developing immunisation strategies to protect their vulnerable elderly populations,” he added.
Prof Adam Finn is the Chief Investigator of the study at the university, as well as a member of the JCVI committe on vaccinations.
He said the vaccine was working ‘better than we could have hoped’.
“We are very pleased to share these early results that show the UK COVID-19 vaccine programme is working better than we could have hoped,” he said.
“We are also delighted our findings could reduce the burden of serious illness in our elderly population and relieve the pressure on the NHS. The AvonCAP study will continue to provide further and more detailed information as time goes on,” he added.
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