BioNTech/Pfizer says booster vaccination increases COVID-19 protection to 95.6 pct

Berlin, Germany | Xinhua | A booster vaccination with the COVID-19 vaccine of BioNTech and Pfizer increased protection to up to 95.6 percent, the companies announced on Thursday.

A randomized, controlled phase III study of more than 10,000 people aged 16 years and older found that booster vaccinations with the Comirnaty vaccine restored a high level of protection against COVID-19, according to the German company BioNTech.

“These important data expand existing knowledge and show that booster vaccines can help protect large segments of the population from this virus and its variants,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech.

Half of the study participants received a third vaccination, the other half a placebo. An average of 11 months elapsed between the second and third vaccination. Among the people with a booster vaccination, only five COVID-19 cases occurred, compared with 109 in the placebo group, according to BioNTech.

The manufacturers also announced their plan to submit further detailed data from the study for publication in a scientific journal, as well as to regulatory authorities worldwide.

“We look forward to sharing these data with health authorities and working together to determine how they can be used to support the rollout of booster doses around the world,” Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said.

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Xinhua