Researchers say Pfizer vaccine provides more protection against Omicron

According to a large real-world research in South Africa, two doses of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine appear to provide 70% protection against hospitalisation from the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Discovery Health, South Africa's largest private health insurance administrator, issued an analysis on Tuesday based on more than 211,000 positive COVID-19 test results of adults from November 15 to December 7, with Omicron being blamed for 78,000 of them.

Because the 78,000 instances aren't proven Omicron cases, the study can't make any conclusions about the new strain, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has labelled a "variant of concern."

Scientists in South Africa revealed the finding of Omicron in November, and the country is the first to see a rise in COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variety.

So far, roughly 550 Omicron sequences have been validated by South African scientists, with the variant resulting in 78 percent of sequences from November, a larger percentage than the previously prevalent Delta variant.

Last month's discovery of a new coronavirus strain sparked fears that it could spark a fresh wave of global infections, prompting many governments to impose travel restrictions on the southern African region. In recent days, the number of daily infections in South Africa has grown to around 20,000.

The real-world study calculated that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech offered 70% protection against hospitalisation and 33% protection against infection during the recent surge in cases, based on analysis by Discovery's clinical research and actuarial teams in collaboration with South Africa's Medical Research Council (SAMRC).

Given that the WHO considers a COVID vaccine successful if it gives 50% protection, the amount of protection is quite high.

The study is based on facts from the first three weeks of South Africa's Omicron-driven wave, which may alter over time. The results are preliminary and have not been reviewed, according to the researchers.