Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduces transmission after 1 dose, study findings

A single dose of Pfizer and BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine can significantly reduce the risk of transmission of the virus, a UK study has found.

Researchers analyzed the results of thousands of COVID-19 tests performed each week as part of hospital examinations by healthcare professionals in Cambridge, England.

Mike Weekes, an infectious disease specialist at Cambridge University’s Department of Medicine, who led the study, said: ‘This is good news – the Pfizer vaccine not only offers protection against SARS-CoV-2, but also helps prevent infection, which reduces the potential for transmission of the virus to others.

“But we must remember that the vaccine does not provide complete protection for everyone.”

The study also found that a single dose of the shot reduces the number of asymptomatic infections.

“Our findings show a dramatic decrease in the rate of positive screening tests among asymptomatic healthcare workers after a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,” said Nick Jones, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Cambridge. .

After separating the test results from non-vaccinated and vaccinated staff, Jones’ team found that 0.80% of the tests of non-vaccinated health workers were positive.

This compares with 0.37% of staff tests less than 12 days after vaccination – when the protective effect of the vaccine has not yet been fully established – and 0.20% of staff tests after 12 days or more. vaccination.

The study and its results have yet to be independently reviewed by other scientists, but were published online Friday.

This indicates a fourfold decrease in the risk of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection among health workers vaccinated for more than 12 days, and a protection of 75%, Weekes said.

The level of asymptomatic infection was also halved in those vaccinated in less than 12 days, he said.

Since the end of December 2020, Britain has instituted vaccinations with both the Pfizer COVID-19 shot and one from AstraZeneca. The US uses the Pfizer-BioNTech shot and a vaccine by Moderna Inc. in his vaccination program.

Important actual data published from Israel on Wednesday, which made one of the world’s fastest implementations of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, showed that two doses of the Pfizer – symptomatic COVID-19 cases with 94% in all age groups cut, and serious diseases with almost as much.

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