Vaccine Safety, Efficacy & Contrasts

Patients hospitalized with COVID-linked acute kidney injury are more likely to survive if they are vaccinated than if they are not, a recent study suggests.

Of all the jerks out there peddling anti-vaccine propaganda, the worst offender is Andrew Wakefield. He's been at it for almost 30 years, being the original ...

In The Panic Virus, Mnookin interviews parents, public-health advocates, scientists, and anti-vaccine activists to task: How do we decide what the truth is?

A new clinical study indicates that a single dose of the HPV vaccine is as effective as two doses, potentially easing vaccination costs.

Earlier this year, a study published in Cell, a highly esteemed journal, found that the mRNA genetic material and spike protein persist in the lymph nodes of individuals who got the mRNA vaccine for…

With new coronavirus variants continuing to emerge, the development of a so-called universal vaccine offering broad, long-term protection needs to be the focus of an intense effort, one that may share characteristics of the widely hailed Operation Warp Speed, scientists suggest.

npj Vaccines - Comparing Moderna’s mRNA-1083 and Pfizer’s dual-target mRNA vaccines for influenza and COVID-19

Breaking down a new study in The Lancet.

New research suggests routine immunizations may help reduce dementia risk

The Math Reveals Even Greater Protection Than We Thought

Well, for one thing, all the kids who have been hospitalized and who died have been unvaccinated.

A new study reveals that public reactions to the deaths of anti-vaxxers due to COVID-19 are multifaceted.

We have moved beyond burning witches and lynching wrong-doers. So we should also stop shaming unvaccinated people. There are better ways to change behaviour.

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Scientists have warned wealthy nations to share vaccines with poorer countries or risk the emergence of new mutant variants.

Objective To estimate the real world effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 and Oxford-AstraZeneca ChAdOx1-S vaccines against confirmed covid-19 symptoms (including the UK variant of concern B.1.1.7), admissions to hospital, and deaths. Design Test negative case-control study. Setting Community testing for covid-19 in England. Participants 156 930 adults aged 70 years and older who reported symptoms of covid-19 between 8 December 2020 and 19 February 2021 and were successfully linked to vaccination data in the National Immunisation Management System. Interventions Vaccination with BNT162b2 or ChAdOx1-S. Main outcome measures Primary outcomes were polymerase chain reaction confirmed symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections, admissions to hospital for covid-19, and deaths with covid-19. Results Participants aged 80 years and older vaccinated with BNT162b2 before 4 January 2021 had a higher odds of testing positive for covid-19 in the first nine days after vaccination (odds ratio up to 1.48, 95% confidence interval 1.23 to 1.77), indicating that those initially targeted had a higher underlying risk of infection. Vaccine effectiveness was therefore compared with the baseline post-vaccination period. Vaccine effects were noted 10 to 13 days after vaccination, reaching a vaccine effectiveness of 70% (95% confidence interval 59% to 78%), then plateauing. From 14 days after the second dose a vaccination effectiveness of 89% (85% to 93%) was found compared with the increased baseline risk. Participants aged 70 years and older vaccinated from 4 January (when ChAdOx1-S delivery commenced) had a similar underlying risk of covid-19 to unvaccinated individuals. With BNT162b2, vaccine effectiveness reached 61% (51% to 69%) from 28 to 34 days after vaccination, then plateaued. With ChAdOx1-S, effects were seen from 14 to 20 days after vaccination, reaching an effectiveness of 60% (41% to 73%) from 28 to 34 days, increasing to 73% (27% to 90%) from day 35 onwards. On top of the protection against symptomatic disease, a further 43% (33% to 52%) reduced risk of emergency hospital admission and 51% (37% to 62%) reduced risk of death was observed in those who had received one dose of BNT162b2. Participants who had received one dose of ChAdOx1-S had a further 37% (3% to 59%) reduced risk of emergency hospital admission. Follow-up was insufficient to assess the effect of ChAdOx1-S on mortality. Combined with the effect against symptomatic disease, a single dose of either vaccine was about 80% effective at preventing admission to hospital with covid-19 and a single dose of BNT162b2 was 85% effective at preventing death with covid-19. Conclusion Vaccination with either one dose of BNT162b2 or ChAdOx1-S was associated with a significant reduction in symptomatic covid-19 in older adults, and with further protection against severe disease. Both vaccines showed similar effects. Protection was maintained for the duration of follow-up (6 weeks). A second dose of BNT162b2 was associated with further protection against symptomatic disease. A clear effect of the vaccines against the B.1.1.7 variant was found.

More Americans than ever are willing to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, but a partisan divide remains.

This analysis is an update to a previous analysis conducted in September 2021. Using county-level data, we analyzed trends in COVID-19 vaccination rates in counties that voted for President Trump in the 2020 election compared to counties that voted for President Biden. We find higher vaccination rates for counties that voted for Biden. However, rates among those fully vaccinated that have received a booster are similar between the two groups.

A vaccinology expert explains why the number of breakthrough cases in Nova Scotia is a sign of just how effective COVID-19 vaccines are.

Concerns over waning immunity and SARS-CoV-2 variants have convinced some countries to deploy extra vaccine doses — but it’s not clear to scientists whether most people need them.

Massive UK study of COVID-19 cases shows that people who are jabbed have good immunity at first, but quickly become more vulnerable to the fast-spreading Delta variant.

"The vaccines were transformational," said one doctor. "It was sort of a very visible miracle."

COVID-19 vaccines show excellent efficacy in clinical trials and effectiveness in real-world data, but some people still become infected with SARS-CoV-2 after vaccination. This study aimed to identify risk factors for post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 ...