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Written question asked by Bambos Charalambous (Labour) on Monday, 22 February 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 February 2021. It was answered by Nadhim Zahawi (Conservative) on Thursday, 11 March 2021 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Pfizer BioNTech covid-19 vaccine when there is a 12-week gap between the first and second dose for those aged over 80; and what evidence that assessment is based on.

Answer

Public Health England is monitoring the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines and has published early evidence on the efficacy of both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccines. The evidence suggests that a single dose of either vaccine is around 60 to 70% effective at preventing symptomatic disease in older adults and around 80% effective at preventing hospitalisations. There is also evidence that a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is around 85% effective at preventing deaths. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.01.21252652v1

Effectiveness of two doses with a 12-week gap will be monitored as more individuals start to receive their second dose.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
156504
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Standards Vaccination Pfizer Coronavirus BioNTech
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk