COVID-19 vaccination in Qatar is highly effective at warding off severe illness due to infection from the UK and South African variants, a Qatar study has found.
The research study, carried out by investigators and collaborators from the country’s health sector and research institutes, has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study looked into a wide range of clinical data in national COVID-19 databases, from February 1 to March 31, 2021, including vaccination data, antibody and PCR test results, COVID-19 hospitalizations, and infection severity data.
Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and Lead investigator of the study, Professor Laith Abu-Raddad highlighted the significance of the findings.
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The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is extraordinarily effective at protecting against severe disease caused by two dangerous variants, according to two studies published Wednesday.
The studies, which are based on the real-world use of the vaccine in Qatar and Israel, suggest that the vaccine can prevent the worst outcomes including severe pneumonia and death caused by B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the U.K., and B.1.351, the variant first identified in South Africa.
“This is really good news,” said Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith, an infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “At this point in time we can confidently say that we can use this vaccine, even in the presence of circulating variants of concern.”
Studies based on the real-world use of the Pfizer-BioNTech in Qatar and Israel suggests that the vaccine can prevent the worst outcomes, including severe pneumonia and death caused by B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 which was first identified in the UK as well as the B.1.351 the variant first detected in South Africa.
Dr Annelies Wilder-Smith, an infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, described this as really good news. “At this point in time we can confidently say that we can use this vaccine, even in the presence of circulating variants of concern.”
One of the new studies, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, is based on information about more than 200,000 people that was pulled from Qatar’s national COVID-19 databases between Feb 1 and March 31. During that period, the variants were widespread in the region. Sequencing conducted between Feb 23 and March 18 suggested that roughly half of the coronavirus infections
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine effective against worrisome coronavirus variants, studies find
By Kelly Hayes
President Biden aims for vaccinating 70 percent of adult Americans by July 4
The White House says President Joe Biden is setting a new vaccination goal to deliver at least one dose to 70 percent of adult Americans by July 4.
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was found to be highly effective at protecting against infection, severe disease and death in two new studies published this week, based on real-world data.
Previous studies have suggested that the two-dose vaccine still works well against B.1.1.7, a variant first detected in the U.K. and thought to be more infectious than the original strain. However, the vaccine appeared to be less effective against B.1.351, a variant first identified in South Africa.
The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is extraordinarily effective at protecting against severe disease caused by two dangerous variants, according to two studies published Wednesday. The studies, which are based on the real-world use of the vaccine in Qatar and Israel, suggest that the vaccine can prevent the worst outcomes including severe pneumonia and death caused by B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the U.K., and B.1.351, the variant first identified in South Africa. “This is really good news,” said Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith, an infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “At this point in time we can confidently say that we can use this vaccine, even in the presence of circulating variants of concern.”