One jab of Pfizer or Oxford-AstraZeneca offers 90% protection: Report

NEW DELHI: Just one vaccine shot reduces the risk of being hospitalised by Covid-19 by more than 90%, according to new findings, Daily Mail reported. Public health officials have told Ministers in the UK the remarkable results apply for both the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with the British jab proving slightly more effective, it said.

The new one-dose vaccination figures were calculated by comparing Covid hospitalisation rates in those who have received their first dose with those of a similar age who haven't. The report said it helps to explain why the numbers being hospitalised are falling so rapidly in the oldest age groups.

Deaths among over-75s have dropped by 40%, while the number of over-85s being admitted to ICUs with Covid has dropped to zero. The strong results for the Oxford vaccine are a rebuke to the German authorities, which last month advised against its use in the over-65s, it said. The vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is very effective at preventing recipients becoming seriously ill, a new analysis shows.