It’s better than expected.
A new study is coming with some great news, two doses of Pfizer or AstraZeneca have been proven to be nearly as effective against the Delta variant as the Alpha.
As Delta takes over as the more dominant variant across the globe and especially in Ireland, both Pfizer and AstraZeneca are both said to be just as good against this strain.
The study noted that one shot of either was still not enough for high protection, and two doses are still needed to protect from the virus.
The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that two doses of Pfizer proved to be 88% effective against Delta, preventing symptomatic illness, compared to it being 93.7% effective against the Alpha variant.
When it comes to AstraZeneca, it proved to be 67% effective against the Delta variant, where it is 74.5% effective against the Alpha variant. It was originally estimated to be 66% effective.
“Only modest differences in vaccine effectiveness were noted with the Delta variant as compared with the Alpha variant after the receipt of two vaccine doses,” Public Health England researchers wrote in the study.
Public Health England has said that only one dose of either vaccine proves to only be around 33% effective from the Delta variant, with Pfizer being 36% and AstraZeneca being around 30% effective.
“Our finding of reduced effectiveness after the first dose would support efforts to maximise vaccine uptake with two doses among vulnerable groups in the context of circulation of the Delta variant,” the study said.
Like these vaccines, the one-shot Johnson & Johnson is also less effective against the Delta variant, according to a study by bioRxiv, but the exact figures have not been released yet.
