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LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - England's coronavirus vaccine
campaign is significantly reducing cases of COVID-19, with a
drop of around 70% in infections among healthcare workers who
have had a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, British
health officials said on Monday.
Data analysed by Public Health England (PHE) showed the
Pfizer provided high levels of protection against infection and
symptomatic disease from a single dose, and that hospitalisation
and death from COVID-19 will be reduced by more 75% in elderly
people who have had a first dose.
"Overall, we're seeing a really strong effect to reducing
any infection, asymptomatic and symptomatic," PHE's strategic
response director Susan Hopkins told a media briefing.
PHE's head of immunisation Mary Ramsay described the data as
"strong evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is stopping
people from getting infected, while also protecting cases
against hospitalisation and death".
"We should be very encouraged by these initial findings,"
she said.
PHE's findings came from two separate analyses - one is an
ongoing study in healthcare workers, and the second is an
assessment of testing data in people aged 80 and over.
Evidence from the elderly group showed that one dose of the
Pfizer shot is 57% effective against symptomatic COVID-19
disease, PHE said, and early data suggest the second dose
improves protection to more than 85%.
"Hospitalisation and deaths rates are falling in all age
groups, but the oldest age groups are seeing the fastest decline
since the peak in mid-January," a PHE statement said.
The vaccine also provides protection against the so-called
British variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it added.
The PHE data come as preliminary study findings from
Scotland on Monday also showed the vaccination drive there is
working, markedly reducing the risk of hospitalisation for
COVID-19.
Scottish researchers said those findings suggested that both
the Pfizer and the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines are
highly effective in preventing severe infections.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland and Alistair Smout, editing by Guy
Faulconbridge)
