Amidst some concerns over the side effects of Pfizer and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines, a latest study has showed that one dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines reduces the chances of someone infected with coronavirus from spreading it to other household members by up to 50 per cent.
The Public Health England (PHE) research on Wednesday (April 28) showed that those who became infected three weeks after receiving their first jab were between 38 and 49 per cent less likely to pass the virus on to their household contacts than those who were unvaccinated.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said: “This is terrific news – we already know vaccines save lives and this study is the most comprehensive real-world data showing they also cut transmission of this deadly virus.
“It further reinforces that vaccines are the best way out of this pandemic as they protect you and they may prevent you from unknowingly infecting someone in your household.”
The study drew data from over 57,000 contacts in 24,000 households in which there was a lab-confirmed case that had received a vaccination, compared with nearly one million contacts of unvaccinated cases.
Previous studies have already shown that being vaccinated reduces the risk of a person developing symptomatic infection in the first place by up to 65 per cent, four weeks after one dose.
“Households are deemed as high-risk settings for transmission, and similar results could be expected in other settings with similar transmission risks, such as shared accommodations and prisons,” said the PHE study.
Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said: “Not only do vaccines reduce the severity of illness and prevent hundreds of deaths every day, we now see they also have an additional impact on reducing the chance of passing Covid-19 on to others.”
Meanwhile, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has confirmed on Wednesday that there are no new safety concerns around the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine and heart inflammation based on the rollout of the shot in Britain.
A MHRA spokeswoman said: “The MHRA is as aware of the reports of myocarditis under investigation in Israel. Based on our experience and safety monitoring in the UK, there is currently no new safety concerns raised regarding myocarditis.”
The latest statement from the MHRA follows the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statement which said it had not seen a link between the shot and heart inflammation.
Last week, raising concerns, Britain’s medicines regulator said there had been 168 major blood clots following a dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.
The latest data is at a rate of 7.9 clots per million doses, higher when compared to the previous week’s figure.
Previous PHE studies have estimate that Britain’s successful vaccine rollout had prevented 10,400 deaths in the over-60s by the end of March.
