The two-dose AstraZeneca and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing deaths from the Delta variant which is the dominant variant across the world, researchers at the University of Edinburgh have claimed.
According to details, the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is 91% effective and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective at preventing deaths from the Delta strain of the Coronavirus.
These claims are based on the data collected from a Scotland-wide Coronavirus surveillance tool called “Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19,” which is also known as the EAVE II project.
Edinburgh researchers along with scientists from the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland analyzed the records of people who contracted COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated against it.
They collected the data of a total of 5.4 million people in Scotland between 1 April and 27 September this year. During this period, 115,000 people tested positive for COVID-19 using a PCR test, of which 201 died.
Speaking in this regard, EAVE II project lead and professor at Edinburgh University, Prof. Dr. Abdul Aziz Sheikh, said that these findings are extremely reassuring that AstraZeneca and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines offer high protection against Delta variant, which is the dominant strain across the world including Scotland.
Scotland has completely vaccinated 87.1% of its adult population against the Coronavirus. Currently, the country is offering booster shots to adults aged above 50 years, frontline healthcare workers, and young adults with underlying health conditions.
In July this year, Public Health England (PHE) also claimed that AstraZeneca and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines were highly effective at preventing infection from the Delta strain of the Coronavirus.
According to the study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Pfizer’s vaccine was 88% effective and AstraZeneca’s vaccine was 67% effective at preventing symptomatic infection from the Delta variant.
The same month, European Medicines Agency (EMA) also claimed that all two-dose COVID-19 vaccines were vital in ensuring maximum protection against the Delta variant, the highly transmissible strain of Coronavirus which first emerged from India.
