London: The third dose of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is effective against symptomatic disease and hospitalisation, offering protection comparable to a booster shot of the Pfizer preventive, according to a study conducted in the UK.
The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted on the preprint repository medRxiv on May 1, assessed the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-S) Covid booster, and compared it with the protection offered by Pfizer (BNT162b2) booster shot.
The researchers from the UK Health Security Agency, London, estimated vaccine effectiveness by analysing data on all adults aged 18 years and above who were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca primary vaccine and either the same or the Pfizer booster vaccine.