JABS A GOODUN
Oxford and Pfizer jabs cutting Covid infections and transmissions by TWO THIRDS, new data shows
THE Oxford and Pfizer vaccines cut Covid infections AND transmissions by two thirds, new data shows.
Boris Johnson is due to be presented with results showing just one dose of either vaccine blocks transmission of the virus in all age groups by about two thirds, .
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The first "real world data" on the vaccines' impact will boost hopes Britain's lockdown nightmare can be lifted soon.
Whitehall sources told h the results were "very encouraging".
Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London and a senior scientific adviser, said the claims were "not too far off" on the new data.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The trade off we have is between how quickly can we relax and how quickly we can immunise and protect the population.
"And there's still risks at the moment in relaxing too quickly when we don't have enough immunity in the population bearing in mind that no vaccine is a panacea, no vaccine will offer perfect protection."
He said it was still "early days" when it came to the data on vaccine effectiveness but suggested that a figure of two-thirds efficacy from a single dose of a vaccine was "not too far off".
The Prime Minister is set to unveil a roadmap out of lockdown on Monday and has said he will be guided by "data not dates".
Mr Johnson and the government's scientific advisers will study how the vaccines are affecting rates of transmission, infection, hospitalisations and deaths.
'VERY ENCOURAGING'
Studies on vaccines led by Public Health England (PHE), involving 40,000 healthcare workers and 9,000 care homes, are due to be published this month.
A PHE spokesman told The Telegraph: "We have been analysing the data since the start of the vaccination programme rollout and will publish our findings in due course."
Most of the data shows the results of the Pfizer jab, which was rolled out earlier, from the start of December, it's reported.
The same results were found in a smaller sample of people given the Oxford vaccine, it's claimed.
Despite doubts raised by some - including French President Emmanuel Macron - over the Oxford jab's effectiveness on the over-65s, similar results were reportedly found in all age groups.
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Mr Johnson will be handed a dossier of data to help him decide the speed of his "Roadmap to Recovery" blueprint.
He will scrutinise the data with the government's Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance over the weekend.
The Cabinet's coronavirus operations committee are then due to meet to thrash out the roadmap to lead Britain from lockdown.
Early results are set to indicate the Pfizer and Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccines are slashing infection rates.
The PM is under pressure from Tory MPs to ease restrictions quickly, with Covid infection rates now halving every two weeks.
Yesterday, another 12,057 infections were recorded, down from 13,494 last Thursday as hospitalisations also continued to tumble.
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In England, there were 2,316 intensive care patients needing ventilation, down from 3,736 on January 24.
Across the UK, there were 20,156 Covid patients in hospital compared with 39,242 on January 18, and 21,687 on April 12 last year at the peak of the first wave.
Cases among the over-80s are falling quicker than other age groups, and are down by 39 per cent in seven days, another sign that the vaccines are working.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is said to be one of the Cabinet ministers urging a speedier end to lockdown.
It comes after a major study found Covid rates are still "really high" - despite lockdown causing cases to plummet by two thirds.
Scientists are urging people to take a "cautious" approach as infections remain high but had dropped to just one in 200 people testing positive.
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Scientists hailed the plummeting cases as “really encouraging” yesterday, but warned pressure on hospitals must ease before we unlock the country.
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Britain’s biggest virus infection survey found the R rate is down to 0.7, even as low as 0.6 in London.
The React study, by Imperial College London, carried out swab tests on 85,000 people across England between February 6 and 13.
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