UK data: COVID-19 vaccine significantly reduces hospitalization | News, sports, work

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and quality control engineer Kelly Simington visit the French Institute for Biotechnology Varneva in Livingston, Scotland on Thursday, January 28, 2021 to receive the COVID-19 vaccine during their visit to Scotland. Manufactured on a large scale. .. (Pool via Wattie Cheung / AP)

London (AP) —Two UK studies published Monday show that the COVID-19 vaccination program has contributed to a sharp reduction in hospitalization, making shots a reality as well as a carefully managed study. We are raising expectations that it will work in the world of.

Preliminary results from a study in Scotland show that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduced hospitalizations by up to 85% four weeks after the first dose, while Oxford-AstraZeneca reduced hospitalizations by up to 94%. In the United Kingdom, preliminary data from a healthcare professional study showed that the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of catching COVID-19 by 70% after a single dose. This has risen to 85% since the second time.

“This new evidence shows that the jab protects you and the people around you,” said Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health. “”It is important to identify as much evidence as possible about the effects of the vaccine on protection and infection, and we will continue to publish evidence as we collect it. “

The study was released on Monday when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson planned to ease the blockade that had closed pubs, schools and unimportant stores since early January. Vaccine deployment is important to bring the country back to normal. To date, more than 17.5 million people have been vaccinated once, which is more than one-third of the UK’s adult population.

In the UK, Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 120,000 people.

UK public health services said health care workers’ studies suggest that vaccines may help prevent viral infections “Because you can’t spread the virus unless you’re infected.” The findings are based on a biweekly COVID-19 test that detects infections regardless of whether someone is symptomatic.

Extensive testing of the entire population has shown that the Pfizer vaccine is 57% effective in preventing symptomatological disorders in people over the age of 80 3-4 weeks after the first dose. It increased to over 85% after the second dose. Overall, hospitalizations and mortality should be reduced by at least 75% after a single dose of vaccine, according to the UK Public Health Service.

The agency said it was still monitoring the effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine, “The initial signal of the data suggests that it provides a good level of protection from the first dose.”

UK regulators approved widespread use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on December 30, almost a month after approving the Pfizer vaccine.

Scottish studies were conducted by scientists at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde, and Public Health Scotland.

Preliminary findings are based on a comparison of those who have been vaccinated once and those who have not. Data were collected between December 8 and February 15, when 21% of Scotland’s population was first vaccinated.

“These results were very encouraging and gave us a great reason to be optimistic for the future,” said Professor Aziz Sheikh, director of the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh. “”Currently, there is national national evidence that vaccination provides protection against hospitalization with COVID-19. “

According to the Asher Institute, about 650,000 people in Scotland received the Pfizer vaccine during the study and 490,000 received AstraZeneca injections. Hospitalization data were collected 28 days after vaccination, so hospitalization data came from a subset of 220,000 people who received the Pfizer vaccine and 45,000 people who received AstraZeneca.

External experts said the findings in Scotland are promising, but should be interpreted with caution due to the nature of this type of observational study. In particular, relatively few people were hospitalized after vaccination during the study period.

Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Economics and Tropical Medicine, urged those who make political decisions about pandemics to be cautious.

“It will be important that euphoria from political sources, especially those who do not understand numerical uncertainty, does not trigger premature decisions,” he said.Careful optimism is justified. “

Earlier this month, Israel reported promising results from people who received the Pfizer vaccine. According to the Ministry of Public Health, six weeks after vaccination of people over the age of 60 began, confirmed COVID-19 infections were reduced by 41% and hospitalizations were reduced by 31%.

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