Public Health England says Pfizer, AstraZeneca vaccines effective in high-risk groups

Overall vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease in risk groups was around 60% after one dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech with little difference by age, PHE said. That rises to 93% for Pfizer-BioNTech and 78% for AstraZeneca following a second dose in people in risk groups aged 16 to 64.

Public Health England (PHE) on Friday said that Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines were effective against symptomatic COVID-19 infection in high risk groups, citing a preprint study based on 1 million vulnerable people. Overall vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease in risk groups was around 60% after one dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech with little difference by age, PHE said.

That rises to 93% for Pfizer-BioNTech and 78% for AstraZeneca following a second dose in people in risk groups aged 16 to 64. Among those over 64, Pfizer was 87% effective and AstraZeneca 76% effective after the second dose, the health agency said. "This real-world data shows for the first time that most people who are clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 still receive high levels of protection after 2 doses of vaccine," said Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at PHE.