One dose of Pfizer or Oxford reduces Coronavirus by 65%

A new study has found that One shot of the Oxford or Pfizer vaccine reduces Coronavirus infections by nearly two-thirds and protects older and more vulnerable people.

The results from Oxford University and National Statistics department are a welcome increase in the vaccination programme and the first to show the effect on new infections and immune responses in a large group of adults in the general population.The vaccination not only prevents hospitalisations and deaths but helps break chains of transmission and so reduce the risk of a damaging resurgence of disease as the UK reopens.

The researchers analysed Coronavirus test results from more than 350,000 people in the UK between December and April. They found that 21 days after a first jab the time it takes the immune system to mount a decent response to the new Coronavirus infections dropped by 65%.The vaccines were more effective against symptomatic and asymptomatic infections, reducing rates by 72% and 57% respectively when compared with the unvaccinated population.

A second shot of the Pfizer vaccine boosted protection causing symptomatic infections to fall by 90% and asymptomatic infections by 70%. The Oxford vaccine was approved and rolled out later, it is too early to assess the impact of those second doses.The results build on other positive findings from the vaccine rollout, which began in December. In February Public Health Scotland revealed that a month after receiving a shot of Pfizer or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, the risk of hospitalisation from Covid-19 fell by up to 85% and 94% respectively.