Slightly less effective against Omicron, but still likely to avoid hospitalization or death.
At a time when the new variant of Covid-19 occupies more and more place in this pandemic, the double dose of the Comirnaty vaccine from the American laboratory Pfizer "shows an efficiency of 70% in the reduction of hospitalizations", indicates this Tuesday Discovery, South Africa's first private health insurance.
Discovery, in partnership with scientists from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), developed a study based on the results of 78,000 PCR tests obtained between November 15 and December 7.
It thus demonstrates an effectiveness of 70% against severe cases in this new
Omicron
era
of the pandemic, against 93% previously.
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In general, "the effectiveness of the vaccine is significantly reduced with a high number of brief contaminations in vaccinees," said Discovery president Ryan Noach.
The study shows 33% efficacy against the risk of contamination, with a high number of re-infections, against 80% against the previous dominant variant Delta.
"Extremely encouraging" results, but ...
However, "the severity of the cases is 25% lower than those of the first wave" of the pandemic last year, qualified Dr. Cheryl Cohen, of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), who participated in the study.
For the president of SAMRC, a public medical research organization, Glenda Gray, these results are "extremely encouraging", because "the vaccine is designed to protect against hospitalizations and death".
The fact remains that hospital pressure remains high, in South Africa as in many other countries.
"Despite less severe cases, health systems could be overwhelmed by the volume of contaminations, given the rapid spread of Omicron," however warned Ryan Noach.
The booster dose available from January in South Africa
Many uncertainties hover over the nature of this new form of Covid-19 transmitted by Omicron.
It is more contagious, according to the first observations of scientists, but the unusually high number of mutations it presents raises many concerns about its ability to resist vaccines.
South Africa has seen an exponential increase in contamination since the appearance of Omicron, which is responsible for 90% of cases.
It is officially the African country most affected by the virus with more than 3.1 million cases and more than 90,000 deaths.
In South Africa, just over a quarter of the population of 59 million is fully vaccinated, far more than elsewhere in Africa but far behind the rest of the world.
The country administers the Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines, with more than 20 million doses of the latter having been inoculated to date.
The government recently announced a third dose starting in January.
