Two doses of the Pfizer vaccine provide just 33 percent protection against the Omicron variant, but 70 percent protection against hospitalization, according to an analysis in South Africa released Tuesday.
The first analysis of vaccine effectiveness in the region, where the new variant was discovered, appears to support early indications that omicron is more easily transmitted and that the Pfizer vaccine isn’t as effective in protecting against infection as it was against the delta variant, Fox News reports.
The analysis, conducted by the South African Medical Research Council, was based on more than 211,000 positive COVID-19 tests, 41 percent from adults who had a full series of the Pfizer vaccine. About 78,000 of those positive tests between November 15 and December 7 were the omicron variant.
The result shows that vaccinated people who received a full series of Pfizer have 33 percent protection against the omicron variant. The same vaccinated people who received the full Pfizer series had 70 percent protection against hospital admission in the same period.
The study demonstrates that protection against hospitalization is maintained across all ages, in people from 18 to 79 years of age, with slightly lower levels of protection for older people.
Additionally, the study found that the omicron variant presents a higher risk of reinfection. For those that have already had COVID-19, the risk of reinfection with omicron is significantly higher than that of earlier variants.
