And, it found just a single dose of the vaccine offered considerable protection. Three weeks after being given a single dose of the vaccine it had an efficacy rate of 76 per cent and measurements over a 90 day period showed the efficacy rate did not wane. Vaccination programs aimed at vaccinating a large proportion of the population with a single dose, with a second dose given after a 3 month period is an effective strategy for reducing disease, and may be the optimal for rollout of a pandemic vaccine when supplies are limited in the short term, the study authors said. The trial also confirmed the vaccine was 100 per cent effective in protecting against severe disease, hospitalisation and death.
Politics by Emma Reynolds and Samantha Maiden 4th Feb 2021 6:32 AM Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed his condition for reopening Australia s borders and allowing international travel to resume. The Prime Minister said that reopening the border would depend on how far a COVID-19 vaccine is proven to reduce transmission of the virus, during a live interview with news.com.au. The key thing that I think is going to impact on that decision is going to be whether the evidence emerges about transmissibility and how the vaccine protects against that, he told politics editor Samantha Maiden. And until we know something about that, I m not going to lead people on.
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Not quite, says Professor Hoffmann. âThatâs what itâs often interpreted as. It actually means there was a 95 per cent reduction in new cases of COVID-19 in the vaccine group, compared to the placebo group.â
Thatâs a complex idea, so letâs break it down. In Pfizerâs phase 3 trial, 18,198 people got the vaccine and 18,325 got a placebo. There were eight cases of COVID-19 in the vaccinated group and 162 in the placebo group. Scientists can then calculate the infection risk for people given a placebo: 0.88 per cent. For people given the vaccine: 0.04 per cent. That allows scientists to calculate the difference between the groups in the risk of being infected with COVID-19: about 0.8 per cent. In this trial, the vaccine had a