Vaccine cuts household spread by a third

BEING vaccinated reduces the chance of passing coronavirus on to members of your household, new research suggests.

A study found those living with health workers were 30 per cent less likely to be infected after those staff are vaccinated.

The big question around vaccination has been whether it can prevent people passing on the virus, as well as protecting them from illness and death.

Now the first British study to look at transmission has found that having the jab really could stop the spread.

Researchers led by Public Health Scotland and the University of Glasgow tracked more than 144,000 NHS staff and GPs given early vaccinations and those they lived with.

They found household members had a 30 per cent lower risk of testing positive at least a fortnight after the health worker was vaccinated, compared with those living with unvaccinated staff. After two doses, in a smaller group, the risk fell by 54 per cent.

The results may boost the case for targeting jabs at reducing transmission, for example by prioritising those in high-risk jobs. Officials have already decided against putting teachers and police first, with vaccines instead being rolled out by age group.

Senior author Dr David McAllister, from Glasgow University, said: ‘We are confident of our results and cautiously optimistic that vaccination does reduce transmission.

‘It is likely results like these will see prioritisation for vaccination based on people’s chances of transmitting the infection looked at again. But more evidence is needed.’

The virus is known to spread more within households than any other setting and the study authors previously found those living with healthcare workers were twice as likely to be infected.

The new research looked at 194,362 living with individual healthcare workers aged 18 to 65. Just over one in five were unvaccinated, while the rest received their first or second dose of the Pfizer or Oxford jab between December 8 and March 3.

The authors say it is possible that the effect could be even greater than the study suggests as those who became infected may have picked up the virus outside the home.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing yesterday, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: ‘It’s obviously very encouraging data indeed. We’ve already seen the impact the vaccination programme is having on deaths in care homes and increasingly in the community.’