According to a new study released on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S., the Covid vaccine by Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) is the most effective at preventing hospitalization, when compared to Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE)’s and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s single-dose.
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More Effective
The study asserts that Moderna's effectiveness is 93%, Pfizer/BioNTech's is 88%, and Johnson & Johnson's is 71%, “Although data show some variation in vaccine protection levels, all approved or licensed vaccines offer substantial protection against COVID-19 hospitalization,” the CDC report said.
The study collects data from 3,600 adults who were hospitalized between March and August this year in about 20 states in the U.S.
According to the researchers, the effectiveness of Pfizer's vaccine begins to decline more sharply than Moderna's, as it stands at 77% after four months from the second dose.
One possible explanation is the time between the first and second doses, which in Moderna's vaccine is four weeks and in Pfizer's is three weeks, which would give Moderna's more time to strengthen the antibodies, the CDC noted.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have a more sophisticated technology, which is based on messenger RNA, while Johnson & Johnson's is based on an adenovirus, more like traditional vaccines.
Booster Shots
On Friday, the advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a meeting to decide whether to give the green light to a booster dose of Pfizer's vaccine, President Joe Biden wants the country to be more aggressive in the fight against the Delta variant.
Currently, 63.5% of the U.S. population over 12 has been fully inoculated, despite the rate dropping in recent months.
According to the Press Herald, “Company officials also touted evidence from Israel, which rolled out boosters after seeing a rise in hospitalizations among people who were fully vaccinated. Those hospitalizations dropped dramatically after third doses were given, Israeli scientists have said.”
“The panel unanimously agreed that a third shot of the vaccine now sold under the brand name Comirnaty should be offered to select groups: individuals 65 and older, people at risk of developing severe disease, and those, including health-care workers, whose occupations put them at high risk of infection.”
