Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can prevent worst outcomes of COVID-19: Study

Studies based on the real-world use of the Pfizer-BioNTech in Qatar and Israel suggests that the vaccine can prevent the worst outcomes, including severe pneumonia and death caused by B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 which was first identified in the UK as well as the B.1.351 the variant first detected in South Africa.

Dr Annelies Wilder-Smith, an infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, described this as really good news. “At this point in time we can confidently say that we can use this vaccine, even in the presence of circulating variants of concern.”

One of the new studies, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, is based on information about more than 200,000 people that was pulled from Qatar’s national COVID-19 databases between Feb 1 and March 31. During that period, the variants were widespread in the region. Sequencing conducted between Feb 23 and March 18 suggested that roughly half of the coronavirus infections in that period were caused by B.1.351 and 44.5% were caused by B.1.1.7.

The researchers, in multiple analyses, found that the vaccine was 87 to 89.5% effective at preventing infection with B.1.1.7 among people who were at least two weeks past their second shot. It was 72.1% to 75% effective at preventing infection with B.1.351 among those who had reached the two-week point.

Laith Abu-Raddad, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar,  who is one of the study’s authors said that even the slightly reduced effectiveness against infection with B.1.351 is still largely good news. “We are talking about a variant which is probably the nastiest of all the variants of concern,” he said. “It’s not the 95% we were hoping, but the 75% is really great.”

Various studies highlight that the vaccine was highly effective at protecting against the worst outcomes. Overall, it was 97.4% effective at preventing severe, critical or fatal disease from any form of the coronavirus, and 100% effective at preventing severe, critical or fatal disease caused by B.1.1.7 or B.1.351.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Israel Ministry of Health and Pfizer, which was published in Lancet was based on more than 230,000 coronavirus infections that occurred in Israel between Jan 24 and April 3. During that period, B.1.1.7 accounted for nearly 95% of all coronavirus cases in the country, which has vaccinated more than half of its population.

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Researchers found that the vaccine was more than 95% effective at protecting against coronavirus infections, hospitalization and death among fully vaccinated people 16 and older. Moreover, it worked well in older adults. Among those 85 or older, the vaccine was more than 94% effective at protecting against infection, hospitalization and death.