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One dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offers two-thirds protection against the coronavirus, data seen by the UK government suggests.
Early findings from the UK vaccination program, due to be published in a few days, show that the first dose reduced the risk of symptomatic infection among patients by 65% in younger adults and 64% in those older than 80 years old, said a person familiar with the matter.
The data, first published by The Sun newspaper, showed that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine increased protection by between 79% and 84%, depending on age. The AstraZeneca vaccine offers similar protection, the newspaper said.
While the efficacy results are lower than those found in Pfizer’s clinical trials, the Boris Johnson government is likely to praise the early real-world data from the UK as a significant boost to its efforts to immunize the population. A successful mass rollout of the vaccine is key to the government’s hopes of reopening the economy after months of lockdown.
More than 12.6 million people in the UK have so far received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine or the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, according to the latest data released Tuesday. That includes more than 90% of those over the age of 80.
Johnson has set a goal of immunizing nearly 15 million people by February 15, focusing on the most vulnerable groups and their caregivers. After that, his team will consider when and how to begin lifting the UK’s third national lockdown, which has been in place for the past month and has compounded the economic damage already caused by the country’s deepest recession in more than 300 years.
Starting March 8, schools could begin to reopen, followed by the easing of other curbs. But while the vaccine launch in the UK is one of the most advanced in the world, the big question is whether the vaccines will continue to be effective against new strains of coronavirus.
This week, Johnson led efforts to reassure the public that vaccines will continue to work to prevent the most serious disease and death of the South African variant. Some scientists worry that the strain is much more widespread in the UK and could derail the plan to lift restrictions.
Data from the real-world launch of the two UK vaccines will be critical in determining how quickly the government can begin to ease the lockdown.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the first results were “quite surprising” and believed it would be possible to gradually lift the curbs, starting with schools in early March.
“If these numbers are confirmed, they are very reassuring,” Hunter told The Sun. “If they get 65% protection after three weeks with both hits, I think that’s really good.”
The government has deployed further evidence of population growth in parts of Lambeth, south London, in an attempt to track down and contain the new strain found there.
