The protection given against Covid-19, by two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and AstraZeneca, began to diminish after six months of taking them, according to new British research, cited by the “BBC”.
The study is based on positive results from Covid-19 tests, conducted between May and July 2021 on more than 1.2 million people, who received two doses of the vaccine from Pfizer or AstraZeneca.
The results showed that the Pfizer vaccine was 88% effective in preventing infection with COVID-19 a month after the second dose. But after five to six months, protection had shrunk to 74%, and had fallen 14 percentage points in four months.
With the AstraZeneca vaccine, there was a 77% protection against infection one month after the second dose. However, after four to five months, protection had fallen to 67%, or 10 percentage points in three months.
In a worst-case scenario, protection may even drop below 50% for older adults and health professionals in the winter, according to Tim Spector, the study’s lead researcher.
This highlights the need for action. “We can’t just sit back and watch the protection slowly diminish while cases remain high, and so does the potential for infection,” Spector told the BBC.
The expert notes that “the reduction in vaccine protection is expected and is not a reason not to vaccinate.” It concludes, “Vaccines continue to provide high levels of protection for the majority of the population, particularly against the delta variant, so it remains essential that the largest number of people be fully vaccinated.”
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