Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine 85% effective after just one dose, study shows

Headlines on Friday may have said that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is 85% effective after just one dose of the vaccine, but that doesn’t mean we can cut back on the number of doses to get more people vaccinated.

It’s unknown how long we’re immune with both doses, but experts predict it’d be longer than the one dose.

The study is out of Israel and was published Thursday in The Lancet, which is a medical journal.

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Researchers looked at around 7,200 health care workers given one dose of Pfizer’s vaccine and found that with 15 to 28 days, there was an 85% reduction in symptomatic COVID-19 cases.

Pfizer’s own study found it was 95% effective after two doses 21 days apart.

In the U.K., officials are delaying Pfizer’s second dose by as much as 12 weeks to administer more first doses.

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But Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease doctor, points something out.

“The subjects were largely younger and healthier, said one of the authors,” Fauci said. “She also said the study couldn’t confirm how long the protection from one shot would last, as most of the subjects received the second shot.

So for now, Fauci said, “we will stick with the scientifically documented efficacy and optimal response of a prime followed by a boost.”

Cox Media Group