A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines being used to combat coronavirus are highly effective in preventing infection.
The real-world study released Monday by the CDC analyzed 3,950 health care personnel, first responders, and other essential and frontline workers. A two-dose regimen of the vaccines was 90% effective after two weeks and a single shot was 80% effective in preventing infection. The findings are consistent with results from Phase 3 clinical trials conducted before the vaccines received emergency Food and Drug Administration approval.
The study was conducted over a 13-week period from Dec. 14 to March 13 at eight locations across six states, including Portland, Ore.; Miami; Salt Lake City; Phoenix, Tucson, and other areas in Arizona; Duluth, Minn.; and Temple, Texas.
The CDC said in a news release that one of the study’s strengths is its design, in which participants self-collected nasal swabs for testing each week, regardless of whether they had developed symptoms of illness.
“This study shows that our national vaccination efforts are working,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “These findings should offer hope to the millions of Americans receiving COVID-19 vaccines each day and to those who will have the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated in the weeks ahead.”
Walensky’s optimism about vaccine effectiveness was tempered Monday by her fear that the U.S. is facing “impending doom” because of a rise in new case numbers. She urged Americans to “hold on a little longer,” according to CNBC, as states relax restrictions and more people are traveling.
“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope, but right now I’m scared,” Walensky said during a press briefing.
CNBC said more than 63,000 daily new COVID-19 cases are being reported in the U.S., based on a seven-day average of Johns Hopkins University data. That figure is up 16% from one week ago.
Washington state’s is close to entering Phase 1B tier 3 and 4 of its guidance for vaccine allocation and prioritization. The race to prevent new infections and get more people vaccinated comes as the Biden administration is reportedly ready to open up vaccination eligibility to a wide swath of the U.S. population by mid April.
NEWS: President Biden will announce today that 90% of the adult U.S. population will be eligible for vaccination by April 19 and will also have a vaccination site within five miles of their homes by then, an administration official tells me.
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) March 29, 2021
