Global vaccination programs have administered more than 218 million COVID-19 vaccine doses across 99 countries, at roughly 6.15 million doses per day. A recent study shows that a single dose of two currently available vaccines reduces COVID-19-related hospitalizations.
The authors of the prospective cohort study drew on data from the Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19 database, a compendium of information that links vaccination, primary care, testing, hospitalization, and death records for 5.4 million people living in Scotland. They conducted a statistical analysis to estimate effectiveness of a single dose of the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines against COVID-19-related hospitalization.
The analysis revealed that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization by 85 percent at 28 to 34 days post-vaccination. A single dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced risk by 94 percent at the same time frame post-vaccination. The results were similar (81 percent reduced risk) when the authors limited the analysis to vaccine recipients over the age of 80 years.
These findings suggest that a single dose of two currently available COVID-19 vaccines effectively reduces the risk of hospitalization due to the disease and underscore the importance of expediting vaccinations globally. This study is in pre-print and has not undergone peer-review.
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