Even Single Vaccine Dose Cuts COVID-19 Infection Rate, New UK Study Finds

A combination of two studies by the University of Oxford and the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which are yet to be published, also found that a single jab of the two-dose vaccines protected older and more vulnerable people almost as well as younger and healthier individuals.

A single dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, currently being administered in the UK, cut the rate of coronavirus infections by around 65 per cent, according to a new UK study on Friday. A combination of two studies by the University of Oxford and the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which are yet to be published, also found that a single jab of the two-dose vaccines protected older and more vulnerable people almost as well as younger and healthier individuals. The findings indicate a promising effect on hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 infections after vaccinations. But researchers caution that vaccinated people could still be re-infected and trigger an asymptomatic spread of the deadly virus, making the need for social distancing and face masks still crucial. The researchers analysed COVID-19 test results from more than 350,000 people in the UK between December 2020 and April 2021 and found that 21 days after a first jab the time it takes the immune system to mount a decent response new COVID-19 infections dropped.