Two doses of Pfizer, AstraZeneca act against a delta variant: study | Corona virus pandemic news

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Two doses of Pfizer have been shown to be 88 percent effective at preventing the Delta variant while two doses of AstraZeneca are 67 percent effective.

A new study shows that two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine or AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine are nearly as effective against the highly infectious delta coronavirus variant, as is the case with the previously dominant alpha variant.

Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday showed that the vaccines were highly effective against Delta, the strain now prevalent worldwide, provided the person had received two shots.

The study confirms key findings public health England (PHE) presented in May about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca based on data from the real world.

Wednesday’s study found that Pfizer was 88 percent effective at preventing symptoms from the delta variant with both doses, compared with 93.7 percent against the alpha variant, broadly the same as previously reported.

Two shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 67 percent effective against the delta variant, up from 60 percent originally reported, and 74.5 percent effective against the alpha variant, compared to the original estimate of 66 percent effectiveness.

“Only modest differences in vaccine efficacy were observed with the delta variant compared to the alpha variant after receiving two doses of the vaccine,” Public Health England researchers wrote.

Data from Israel estimated that the dose of Pfizer is less effective against symptomatic diseases, although protection against severe disease remains high.

PHE had previously reported that the first dose of any vaccine was approximately 33 percent effective against symptomatic diseases of the delta variant.

Other vaccines are also useful

The full study published Wednesday found that a single dose of Pfizer was 36 percent effective and a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine was 30 percent effective.

“Our finding of reduced efficacy after the first dose will support efforts to maximize two-dose vaccine uptake among vulnerable groups in the context of delta-variable circulation,” the study authors said.

In June, the makers of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine also said it was about 90% effective against the highly contagious delta variant. [File: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters]

Recently, researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston said that in a lab setting, the antibody response from a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine worked well against Delta and that the immune response lasted for about eight months.

In June, the makers of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine also said it was nearly 90 percent effective against the highly contagious Delta variant.

Researchers previously found that the shot, which Russia actively markets abroad, is approximately 92% effective against the original strain of the coronavirus.

The state-owned RIA news agency, Denis Logunov, deputy director of the Moscow Aesthetic Institute that developed Sputnik, reported that the variable delta efficacy figure was calculated based on digital medical records and vaccines.

However, the Sputnik vaccine sparked some controversy as it was introduced to the public even before the full trial was completed. It is still awaiting approval from the World Health Organization.

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