Two doses of Covishield and Pfizer vaccine provide 90% safety from Covid: Study

Recently several studies have been claiming that without booster shots, people are bound to get re-infected by coronavirus. However, a new study has claimed two doses of Covishield and Pfizer can guarantee 90 per cent safety from the deadly virus.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine used data from 5.4 million people of Scotland between April 01 and September 27, 2021 to study the effectiveness of vaccines. Scientists from Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland came together to analyse this data.

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As per the data, Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine (also known as Covishield) is 91 per cent effective against the deadly coronavirus. Similarly, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was found to be 90 per cent effective in protecting people from the virus.

This study has been able to calm down people who had been worried about not being eligible for the booster shot, especially in the UK.

However, the researchers have maintained that it is important for people to get their second shot of the vaccine to stay safe from getting infected. A recent study had claimed that people who have not yet been fully vaccinated carry the risk of getting re-infected after every 16 months.

"With the Delta variant now the dominant strain in many places worldwide and posing a higher risk of hospitalisation than previous variants seen in the UK, it is reassuring to see that vaccination offers such high protection from death very shortly after the second dose," said Professor Aziz Sheikh, Director of the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, and EAVE II study lead. "If you still have not taken up your offer to be vaccinated, I would encourage you to do so based on the clear benefits it offers."

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Researchers will be expanding their study data to other countries to bring more confidence to their findings. However, they have also added that this data should not be used to make comparisons between the two vaccines, and should instead be used to motivate people to get vaccinated.

"Our findings are encouraging in showing that the vaccine remains an effective measure in protecting both ourselves and others from death from the most dominant variant of COVID-19," said Professor Chris Robertson, from the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland.