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Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations for up to six months, although its effectiveness against infections declines over time, a new observational study has found.
The study, published this week in the medical journal The Lancet, found that the vaccine’s effectiveness against infections fell from 88% in the first month after full inoculation to just 47% after five months. But the rate of hospitalizations has remained low in most cases, including in patients with the highly transmissible delta variant which has become the predominant COVID-19 strain in the United States.
The injections, developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, were 93% effective in preventing delta hospitalizations, with a 95% effectiveness rate against hospitalizations of other variants, according to the study.
Previous research published in Israel or conducted by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yielded comparable results, but this is the first major study to consider the impact of delta on the efficacy of the vaccine from Pfizer over time.
The data comes from healthcare company Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. The study, funded by Pfizer, examined the medical records of approximately 3.4 million fully vaccinated Kaiser patients between December 4 and August 8.
The results reinforce the Biden administration’s calls for many Pfizer vaccinees to receive a booster. Federal regulators recently authorized a third dose of Pfizer for older Americans, people with underlying health conditions and those whose work puts them at a higher risk of contracting the virus.
Overall, the vaccine was found to be 73% effective against COVID-19 infections, with a rate 61% lower in people 65 and older.
The study suggests that the decline in vaccine efficacy against infections is “probably due primarily to the decline in vaccine efficacy rather than the delta variant escaping vaccine protection,” said Dr Luis Jodar. , Pfizer’s chief medical officer for vaccines.
“Regarding other results from Israel, the United States and other countries, our results underscore the importance of monitoring vaccine efficacy over time and suggest that booster doses will likely be needed to restore high initial levels of protection observed at the start of the vaccination program. , he said in a statement.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is also reviewing recall clearance requests for the other two federally licensed vaccines – Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Both say the effectiveness of their vaccines also declines over time, with clinical trials suggesting that an extra dose may offer more protection against COVID-19 before the winter months.
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