New Oxford-ONS Study Reveals Efficacy of Covid Vaccine

Pfizer (BioNTech vaccine efficacy declines faster than Oxford-AstraZeneca jab efficacy) does not reduce the amount of Covid-19 carried by a once infected person, according to a major new study.

Researchers at the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have analyzed 2.5 million test results from 743,526 UK participants who participated in the coronavirus home infection survey.

Publishing study The findings are consistent with today’s meeting of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) to discuss the potential of the Covid Jab Booster Campaign.Based on the results of their analysis, the authors of a study that was not involved in making AstraZeneca’s shots said the government “may need to think about having different policies to move forward.” rice field Various vaccines“.

Viral load

According to a new study, double-vaccinated infected individuals have the same amount of Covid (known as viral load) as unvaccinated individuals.

Previous studies have shown that vaccines reduce viral load, Alpha variant In the case of coronavirus, this reduction appears to have been wiped out by the delta mutant, which is currently the predominant strain in the UK.

However, jabs still provide protection against symptomatic infections, and fully vaccinated people are less likely to be infected with Covid in the first place.

Viral load detection means “questioning the effectiveness of vaccine passports and changes to the NHS app,” and fully vaccinated people no longer need to self-isolate after contact with positive cases. Means that there is no. Telegraph..

“The new results suggest that even among fully vaccinated people, there may still be risks,” the newspaper continued. However, researchers emphasize that the risk of infection in people who are completely jabbed is not yet clear.

Pfizer’s decline effect

The study found that the Pfizer vaccine was more effective than the AstraZeneca version for symptomatic infections from delta mutants for 4-5 months after receiving the second dose. However, the effectiveness of Pfizer Jab was almost halved, almost comparable to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which had barely diminished.

NS Financial Times The findings are consistent with Study in Israel, This also shows a decrease in the effectiveness of Pfizer. Thomas Hanke, a professor of vaccine immunology at the Jenner Institute in Oxford, said that the spike protein produced by the vaccine stays in the body for a longer period of time, while a finite number of mRNA molecules make the Pfizer vaccine “eventually a system.” Will be excluded from. “

New research Booster Pfizer ShotHowever, some experts warn that other variables may be working. For example, people vaccinated early in the pandemic tended to be more vulnerable, which could weaken their immune response.

Professor Sarah Walker, Principal Investigator and Academic Leader for Covid-19 Infection Research, said policymakers “first vaccinated and its prevention period” when deciding who should receive a third dose. He said it might need to be considered.

Time between unrelated doses

Another important finding in this study is that the time between doses does not affect the effectiveness of preventing new infections.

Dr. Simon Clark, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, said: inews “These datasets Scotch argue that the protection provided by the UK vaccination program is likely to be superior to Israel due to the long window between the first and second doses. Site.

A new study also found that young people (ages 18-34) had better protection from vaccination than older people (ages 35-64).

Dr. Koen Pouwels, Principal Investigator, Faculty of Population and Health, Oxford University, said on the website: It’s high because we started with a very high level of protection. “

“It is also worth emphasizing that these data here do not tell us about two very important factors when looking at how well a vaccine works, the level of protection against severe illness and hospitalization. There is, “he added.

And considering those factors, BBC“Two doses of the Covid vaccine continue to be the best way to protect against delta mutations,” said Laura Foster, senior health reporter at.