ALBANY, N.Y. (WKBW) — The New York State Department of Health announced that its latest study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
According to the study, vaccine effectiveness was around 93.4 percent during the week of May 1, and dropped while the delta variant was prevalent around July 10, dropping to 73.5 percent.
Since then, during the week of August 28, vaccine effectiveness went up to 74.2 percent.
The results indicated the following
- The declines in VE for laboratory-confirmed infections occurred simultaneously across groups defined by age, product and month of vaccination, during the weeks when the Delta variant rapidly increased, with the largest declines seen for Pfizer-BioNTech recipients.
- These results suggest that after the Delta variant exceeded 85% prevalence, these declines changes in VE plateaued, with more recently vaccinated people at higher protection levels in some groups. Modest continued declines in VE were observed among people 65 years of age and older.
- These results suggest that declines in VE for infections occurred during the study time period but may have been driven primarily by factors other than immunological waning, such as the Delta variant or changes in COVID-19 prevention behaviors.
Lead study author Dr. Eli Rosenberg of the Department of Health said, “This latest study conducted by DOH scientists found declines in vaccine effectiveness against infection may have been primarily driven by factors other than waning immunity. At the direction of former Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, DOH researchers began this groundbreaking study, and we look forward to further studying the best ways to protect the public from COVID-19 under Dr. Mary Bassett’s leadership.”
Deputy Commissioner for Public Health Dr. Ursula Bauer said, “This study examines the real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines over time and gives researchers and policymakers further evidence that vaccines are one of the most effective tools in our fight against this unprecedented pandemic. Simply put, COVID-19 vaccines work and work well. Combining preventive behaviors such as masking and physical distancing, along with vaccination, is the best strategy to contain this pandemic.”
You can read the study here.
