In the United Kingdom, the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 is bearing very encouraging first fruits

The British vaccine campaign is starting to bear fruit. Monday 1er March, Public Health England (PHE, the Department of Health for England) published a preliminary report proving the certain effectiveness of the two vaccines being deployed in the country (the Pfizer-BioNTech, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca) for prevent coronavirus infections in people over 70.

The study on “All adults over 70 (ie more than 7.5 million individuals), and those tested between December 8, 2020 and February 19, 2021”, shows that, four weeks after the injection of the first dose, the protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection is 57% to 61% for the Pfizer vaccine, and 60% to 73% for the Anglo vaccine -Swedish Oxford / AstraZeneca. For the most fragile age group (those over 80), data suggests that a single dose of the vaccine Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech reduces hospitalizations by more than 80% (between three and four weeks after injection).

For those over 80, hospitalizations would be reduced by more than 80% three to four weeks after the injection

These very encouraging data converge with those published a week earlier in Scotland (which pursues the same vaccine strategy as England): according to a study coordinated by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, conducted between December 8 and 15 February, hospitalizations within four weeks of receiving the first dose fell by 85% with Pfizer-BioNTech’s product and by 94% with AstraZeneca.

Also read the story: AstraZeneca’s Vaccine Stations of the Cross

They also validate the British vaccine strategy, considered so far risky on the continent (particularly in France and Germany): the country’s health authorities have bet on a deployment of vaccines as quickly as possible, for as many people as possible, in order to save lives and limit the saturation of hospitals.

At the end of December 2020, they chose to prioritize the administration of the first dose and not to inject the second until after twelve weeks. As of Monday evening, more than 20 million Britons had already received their first dose of the product (practically all over 70s and most of the health workers in the United Kingdom).

Always be careful

The results published by the Department of Health for England also show that the AstraZeneca vaccine, on which London has heavily bet, is effective for the elderly. As of the end of December, the JCVI (the British vaccine committee) had authorized its use for people over 65 years old even if, at the time, data on these age groups were lacking in the phase 3 vaccine trials. had “Considered that it was not possible from an immunological point of view for the vaccine to work for those under 55 but not for the elderly. PHE clearly justified this approach ”, said Jonathan Van-Tam, one of the Johnson government’s medical advisers, at a press conference from Downing Street on Monday.

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