Cumbrian participants have taken part in a study investigating the effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Public Health England published the first independent analysis of the jab in the UK on Monday which shows it provides high levels of protection against infection and symptomatic disease from the first dose.
The NIHR (National Institute for Health Researrch)-supported SARS-CoV-2 Immunity & REinfection EvaluatioN (SIREN) study aims to find out if prior SARS-CoV-2 infection confers future immunity to reinfection by studying healthcare workers’ immune response to the virus causing COVID-19.
Healthcare workers are one of the earliest groups to be offered the vaccine, therefore this study is likely to provide one of the earliest estimates of vaccine effectiveness against infection.
Early data from the study show a promising impact on infection in healthcare workers aged under 65, with one dose reducing the risk of catching infection by more than 70 per cent.
This rises to 85 per cent after the second dose. The study has also yielded promising data for those aged over 80, suggesting that one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 57 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 disease for this age group.
Boosts effectiveness
The second dose is expected to boost effectiveness to more than 85 per cent.
The SIREN study’s early data also suggests that vaccinated people who go on to become infected are far less likely to die or be hospitalised.
Overall, hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 were reduced by more than 75 per cent in those who received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The risk of dying in those aged over 80 is less than half in vaccinated cases compared to unvaccinated cases.
People in this age group who develop COVID-19 infection after vaccination are about 40 per cent less likely to be hospitalised than someone with infection who has not been vaccinated.
High levels of protection
These high levels of protection are also seen against the variant first identified in South East England in December.
In the North East and north Cumbria, the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals and North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trusts have contributed to the study.
Dr Brendan Payne, principle investigator for SIREN at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We have been very grateful for the support from outpatient services in setting up dedicated clinics at both RVI and Freeman sites for the SIREN blood tests.
“It was exciting to see that early data from SIREN on vaccine efficacy contributed to the government’s new plans for easing lockdown.
“We do still have a few available spaces in SIREN and are especially keen to enrol more male and BAME staff.”
Delighted
Professor Caroline Wroe, clinical director at NIHR Clinical Research North East and North Cumbria said: “I am delighted to see the early indications of a positive vaccine effectiveness against infection.
“I would like to thank the staff from both Newcastle and north Cumbria who have volunteered to take part in this important study.”
Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at PHE, said: “This is strong evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is stopping people from getting infected, while also protecting cases against hospitalisation and death. We will see much more data over the coming weeks and months but we should be very encouraged by these initial findings.
“But protection is not complete, and we don’t yet know how much these vaccines will reduce the risk of you passing COVID-19 onto others. So even if you have been vaccinated, it is really important that you continue to act like you have the virus, practice good hand hygiene and stay at home.”
