Third Dose Of Pfizer Vaccine Is 95.6% Effective, Large Study Shows
Researchers studied more than 10,000 people ages 16 and older who were fully vaccinated. Among the participants who received a third Pfizer dose, just five people developed symptomatic cases of covid-19. In comparison, 109 participants who received a placebo developed covid infections.
The Wall Street Journal:
Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Booster Shot Was 95.6% Effective In Large Trial, Companies Say
Researchers found 109 cases of symptomatic Covid-19 among study subjects who received a placebo shot, compared with five cases in people who took the vaccine, resulting in 95.6% efficacy, the companies said. The additional dose was safe and tolerable, and consistent with what was known about the vaccine, the companies said. (Hopkins, 10/21)
USA Today:
Study Finds 3rd Pfizer Shot Drastically Improves Protection
Fully vaccinated people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot in a large trial were at a 95.6% lower risk of COVID-19 infection than fully vaccinated people who received a placebo, the companies said Thursday. The news came on the same day a CDC advisory panel voted unanimously to allow booster shots of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines and to permit the extra doses to be of a different brand than the original shots. Put together, Thursday's developments figure to accelerate the nation's booster program, which the Biden administration has promoted. The Pfizer-BioNTech booster shots were authorized for certain populations in the U.S. last month. (Ortiz and Bacon, 10/21)
CBS News:
Pfizer Says Its Vaccine Booster Restores Full Protection Against COVID-19
Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday that a late-stage trial of the drugmakers' COVID-19 vaccine booster showed it restored full protection against the disease. In a test involving 10,000 participants, the additional shot was 95.6% effective against the disease, according to the companies. ... The companies said the trial involved people who were 16 and older, and represents the first efficacy results from any randomized, controlled COVID-19 vaccine booster test. The results demonstrate the benefits of booster shots to fight the disease, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. (Picchi, 10/21)
In other vaccine-development news —
CNBC:
CDC: These Are Most Common Side Effects People Report After Getting Moderna, J&J Boosters
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday published data listing the most common side effects people reported after receiving boosters of Pfizer’s or Moderna’s two-dose Covid vaccine or a second dose of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine. The data, presented to the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, is based on submissions to the agency’s text messaging system v-safe and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a national vaccine safety surveillance program. (Lovelace Jr., 10/21)
CIDRAP:
COVID-19 Vaccine Appears Safe In First-Trimester Pregnancy
COVID-19 vaccination does not increase the risk of miscarriage during the first trimester of pregnancy, according to a Norwegian case-control study that involved 13,956 women, 5.5% of whom were vaccinated against the virus. The results were published yesterday as a letter to the editor in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study consisted of 13,956 pregnant women, 5.5% of whom were vaccinated. In total, 4,521 women had miscarriages, and 5.1% of those were vaccinated. A median of 19 days occurred between vaccination and either miscarriage or confirmation of ongoing pregnancy. (In Norway, pregnant women are not recommended to receive any vaccinations during their first trimester, but the researchers reason that some women may have gotten vaccinated against COVID-19 before they knew they were pregnant.) (10/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
'Hybrid Immunity': Why COVID Vaccination May Give Extra-Strong Protection After Infection
Science appears to increasingly show, however, that those who have previously been infected and are subsequently vaccinated exhibit a combined immunity that may be the strongest protection against coronavirus reinfection. Researchers emphasize that these studies, which examine how and why hybrid immunity provides such strong protection, are key. “We don't want people to become infected and vaccinated. But if you can elicit this kind of immunity by not getting infected, that's what we're super interested in investigating," said Nadia Roan, a UCSF immunologist and investigator at Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. (Echeverria and Allday, 10/21)
