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LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) - COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer
and AstraZeneca offer high protection of more
than 90% against hospitalisation from the Delta coronavirus
variant, a new analysis by Public Health England (PHE) showed on
Monday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a delay
to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in England due to the
spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of concern,
first identified in India, which is also associated with a
higher risk of hospitalisation among the unvaccinated.
PHE said that the Pfizer/Biontech COVID-19 vaccine
was 96% effective against hospitalisation from the Delta variant
after two doses, while Oxford/AstraZeneca's offered 92%
protection against hospitalisation by Delta.
PHE said that those levels of protection were comparable to
that against the Alpha variant, first identified in Kent,
southeast England.
The analysis adds to evidence that, although the Delta
variant reduces the effectiveness of vaccines against
symptomatic infection, two doses of COVID-19 vaccine still
protect against severe disease.
"These hugely important findings confirm that the vaccines
offer significant protection against hospitalisation from the
Delta variant," said Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at PHE.
The PHE findings follow a Scottish study which showed that
two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine among people who tested positive
cut their risk of hospitalisation by 70%, although there were
not enough hospital admissions reported to compare the vaccines.
PHE said that while further work was being undertaken to
establish the level of protection against mortality from the
Delta variant, levels of protection against death were expected
to be high.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden)
