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NEW YORK – The U.S. government’s first look at actual use of COVID-19 vaccines found their effectiveness to be almost as robust as it was in controlled studies.
The two vaccines available since December – Pfizer and Moderna – were 90% very effective after two doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday. In testing, the vaccines were about 95% effective in preventing COVID-19.
“This is very reassuring news,” said Mark Thompson of the CDC, lead author of the study. “We have a vaccine that is working very well.”
The study is the government’s first assessment of how injections have worked beyond the initial experiences of drug makers. Results can sometimes change when vaccines are used in larger and more diverse populations outside of studies.
With nearly 4,000 participants from six states, the study focused on healthcare workers, first responders and other frontline workers who had first priority for vaccines because they are at higher risk. . They were given nasal swab test kits to use every week to check for signs of a coronavirus infection.
“The evidence base for COVID-19 vaccines (currently available) is already strong and continues to mount more and more with studies like this,” said David Holtgrave, dean of the University of the School of Albany Public Health, in an email.
The study included about 2,500 volunteers who had completed two doses of the vaccine, about 500 who received one, and about 1,000 who were not vaccinated between mid-December and mid-March.
The researchers counted 205 infections, including 161 in the unvaccinated group. Of the remaining 44, the CDC said 33 were people apparently infected within two weeks of being shot. Experts say it takes two weeks for a dose to take full effect.
Nobody died. Two people were hospitalized. Thompson did not say whether those hospitalized were vaccinated or not.
Besides the 90% figure for two doses, the study found that it was 80% effective for participants two or more weeks after a first dose.
CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky called the study’s findings “extremely encouraging.”
“Our national vaccination efforts are working,” she said at a White House press briefing on Monday. She added that more than 93 million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 51 million people have been fully immunized.
Different researchers have tried to examine the performance of vaccines under real conditions, including work done in Israel and the UK, and a US study of Mayo Clinic patients.
Unlike the Mayo study, which focused on hospitalization and death, the CDC study looked for any infection, including infections that never caused symptoms or were detected before people don’t start to feel sick.
About two-thirds of the study’s vaccinations were injections from Pfizer, one-third from Moderna, and five people received Johnson & Johnson’s newest single-dose vaccine. The study was carried out in Miami; Duluth, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; Temple, Texas; Salt Lake City; and Phoenix and other parts of Arizona.
Moderna, meanwhile, announced on Monday that it had shipped its 100 millionth dose to the US government, fulfilling its commitment to provide that amount by the end of March. The company said it plans to meet its next deadlines, delivering an additional 100 million doses by the end of May and the final 100 million by the end of July.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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