Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer Shot Is 85% Effective In Single Dose, May Not Need Ultracold Storage: Study
The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer Vaccine Is Highly Effective After One Dose and Can Be Stored in Normal Freezers, Data Shows
A single shot of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE is 85% effective in preventing symptomatic disease 15 to 28 days after being administered, an Israeli study found—news that could help guide policy makers setting vaccine priorities world-wide. ... The Israeli study, conducted by the government-owned Sheba Medical Center and released Friday, also found a 75% reduction in all Covid-19 infections, symptomatic or asymptomatic, after the first shot. The peer-reviewed study was published in the British medical journal Lancet as a correspondence, meaning it represents the views of the authors and not the journal. (Lieber, 2/19)
Bloomberg: Single Pfizer Shot Cut 85% Of Cases In Israel Health Workers
A single dose of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE reduced Covid-19 infections by 85% in a study in Israel, bolstering the U.K.’s decision to speed immunizations by delaying a second shot. Among health-care workers who got the vaccine, symptomatic infections were reduced by that percentage in the 15 to 28 days after the first dose, compared with those who didn’t get a shot, according to the report in The Lancet medical journal. While most workers received a second dose on schedule -- about three weeks after the first -- the booster would only have just started to kick in by the end of the study, so it was essentially looking at the effects of one dose, researchers said Thursday. (Levingston, Langreth and Lauerman, 2/18)
CBS News: Pfizer Says Deep-Freeze Storage Unnecessary As Israeli Study Shows Vaccine 85% Effective After 1st Shot
The first dose of the Pfizer vaccination is 85% effective against coronavirus infection between two and four weeks after inoculation, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal. The pharmaceutical giant and its German partner BioNTech, meanwhile, have told the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that their vaccine can be safely stored at standard freezer temperatures, which, if approved by the FDA, could help facilitate faster distribution by negating the need for expensive deep-freeze storage. The Israeli survey was carried out on healthcare workers at the largest hospital in the country, which on December 19 launched a mass vaccination campaign regarded as the world's fastest. (2/19)
Two Canadian researchers offer similar results —
Reuters: Researchers Urge Delaying Pfizer Vaccine's Second Dose As First Highly Effective
The second dose of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine could be delayed in order to cover all priority groups as the first one is highly protective, two Canada-based researchers said in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The vaccine had an efficacy of 92.6% after the first dose, Danuta Skowronski and Gaston De Serres said, based on an analysis of the documents submitted by the drugmaker to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (2/18)
CIDRAP: Analysis Suggests High Efficacy For Single Dose Of Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine
An analysis by Canadian researchers suggests that a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is highly efficacious, according to a letter published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Results from the phase 3 trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, published in NEJM on Dec 31, 2020, suggested the efficacy after the first dose of the two-dose vaccine was 52.4%, based on data collected during the first 2 weeks after the first shot to before the second shot. The overall efficacy after two doses was 94.8%. (2/18)
