New studies say Pfizer and Moderna vaccines reduce Covid-19 hospitalization risk by 94% among older adults

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines reduce risk for Covid-19 hospitalization by 94% among older adults, study shows The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines were found in the real world to be 94% effective against Covid-19 hospitalization among fully vaccinated adults ages 65 and older in the United States, according to a new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. By <a href="/profiles/joshua-berlinger">Joshua Berlinger</a>, <a href="/profiles/jessie-yeung">Jessie Yeung</a>, <a href="/profiles/brett-mckeehan">Brett McKeehan</a>, <a href="/profiles/kara-fox">Kara Fox</a>, <a href="/profiles/melissa-mahtani">Melissa Mahtani</a> and <a href="/profiles/meg-wagner">Meg Wagner</a>, CNN CNN

The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines were found in the real world to be 94% effective against Covid-19 hospitalization among fully vaccinated adults ages 65 and older in the United States, according to a new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. 

The study also found that the vaccines were 64% effective among those older adults who were partially vaccinated, meaning they had only received one dose of vaccine so far.

These findings are consistent with the vaccines' clinical trial results, which showed an efficacy of about 94% to 95%, researchers from the CDC and several other institutions noted.

Some more context: The study included data on 417 adults ages 65 and older with Covid-19-like symptoms who were admitted to 24 hospitals in 14 states between January 1 and March 26. Among those patients, 187 tested positive for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 and 230 tested negative.

The researchers found that among those who tested positive, most were unvaccinated. Only 18 of the patients, or 10%, were partially vaccinated with a first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and just one person — representing 0.5% — was fully vaccinated.

Among the 230 adults who tested negative, 44 of them, or 19%, were partially vaccinated and 18, or 8%, were fully vaccinated, the data showed.

The new study included data from California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. More research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge across more states to represent the entire US population.

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