The Telegraph
A single dose of the Pfizer vaccine appears to cut the risk of Covid transmission by three quarters, research by Cambridge University suggests. Scientists said the findings were "dramatic" and showed that vaccines offered a way out of lockdown and "a much brighter future". The study involved almost 9,000 hospital workers who were screened for Covid in January, meaning that cases could be detected whether or not symptoms were showing. It found that 0.8 per cent of tests from unvaccinated workers were positive, compared with just 0.2 per cent of those who had been vaccinated at least 12 days before. A similar reduction was seen among those with symptoms of the virus when people given the jab were compared with those who had yet to receive it. But the impact shown on asymptomatic cases is particularly significant because it suggests the vaccines are blocking virus transmission. Dr Mike Weekes, an infectious disease specialist at CUH and the University of Cambridge's Department of Medicine, who led the study, said: "This is great news – the Pfizer vaccine not only provides protection against becoming ill from SARS-CoV-2 but also helps prevent infection, reducing the potential for the virus to be passed on to others. "This will be welcome news as we begin to plot a roadmap out of the lockdown, but we have to remember that the vaccine doesn't give complete protection for everyone. We still need social distancing, masks, hand hygiene and regular testing until the pandemic is under much better control."
Yahoo News