Reuters
The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are more than 80% effective at preventing hospitalisations from COVID-19 in those over 80 after one dose of either shot, Public Health England (PHE) said on Monday, citing a pre-print study. PHE said the real world study, with data generated from Britain's vaccine rollout, also found that protection against symptomatic COVID in those over 70 ranged between 57-61% for one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine and between 60-73% for the Oxford-AstraZeneca one four weeks after the first shot. "These results may also help to explain why the number of COVID admissions to intensive care units among people over 80 in the UK have dropped to single figures in the last couple of weeks, which is something I know that we all welcome," health minister Matt Hancock said at a news conference.