This may include adverts from us and 3 rd parties based on our understanding. A new study initiated by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE concluded that a booster dose of the COVID - 19 vaccine was 95.6% effective against coronavirus when compared to a vaccinated group that did not get the third shot. The study has not yet been submitted for peer review yet, but the companies said they would submit detailed results of the trial for peer-reviewed publication to the FDA, the European Medicines Agency and other regulatory agencies as soon as possible.
Around 10,000 people enrolled in the study and had all received two doses of the vaccine in its earlier trials. The median age of the participants was 53 years, with 55.5% of participants between 16 and 55 years, and 23.3% at 65 years or older. The drugmakers said on Thursday that the median time between the second dose and the booster shot or placebo in the study was around 11 months. There were only five cases of COVID - 19 in the booster group compared with 109 cases in the group that received the placebo shot.
There were no reported cases of primary disease, suggesting robust protection from infection with only the primary vaccination series, analyst Michael Yee wrote in a note. An earlier study, looking at real-world data from Israel, found a similar boost in protection against serious illness. Since its early introduction of a booster programme, Israel has seen a steady fall in its case rates and hospital admissions. These two studies show the booster jab provides excellent protection against both mild and more serious Covid infections so should both reduce the infection rates in the community and the pressure on hospital services, said Professor Jeremy Brown, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation JCVI READ MORE: Ed Davey calls for more restrictions amid rising Covid cases.
A booster administered about 11 months after the second shot had a favourable safety profile and worked against the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, Pfizer said. In the UK, the JCVI has advised people to wait six months after their second dose for the booster shot to ensure that immunity is maintained through the winter months. Professor Adam Finn of the University of Bristol, another JCVI member, said that boosters would make only a modest difference to infection rates. Tinkering with the dose interval might drive the numbers of people getting a third dose up a bit sooner but this is arguing over the pennies while letting the pounds — measures to reduce transmission: masks, distancing, lateral flow test — look after themselves, he told The Times.