UK finds vaccines 80% effective at preventing hospitalisations in over-80s

The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are more than 80% effective at preventing hospitalisations from COVID-19 in those over 80 after one dose of either shot, Public Health England (PHE) said on Monday, citing a pre-print study.

PHE said the real world study also found that protection against symptomatic COVID in those over 70 ranged between 57-61% for one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine and between 60-73% for the Oxford-AstraZeneca one four weeks after the first shot.

“These results may also help to explain why the number of COVID admissions to intensive care units among people over 80 in the UK have dropped to single figures in the last couple of weeks,” British health minister Matt Hancock told a news conference. “This is seriously encouraging.”

Britain has now administered a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 20 million people, or just over 30% of the population, with the elderly getting priority.

PHE submitted its analysis for peer-review after providing initial findings of the real-world impact of the rollout a week ago.

via Reuters

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