London, February 23: Studies and data analysis undertaken by the Public Health England (PHE) on the ongoing COVID-19 immunisation drive in the United Kingdom show a decline in coronavirus cases among the people who have received a shot of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The organisation is conducting two separate analysis on the beneficiaries of the vaccination programme, one on health workers and other on the elderly population.

As per reports, there has been around 70 per cent decline in COVID-19 cases among healthcare workers who have had a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot vaccine. Meanwhile, the infection rate, hospitalisation and death from coronvairus among the elderly population who took the shot has gone down by 75 per cent, as reported by Reuters. Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Effective Against New Coronavirus Variant Found in Britain and South Africa: Study.

The study on elderly population further revealed that a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot is 57 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 disease, PHE said. Early data suggest the second dose improves protection to more than 85 per cent, it added. British Indian Survey Finds Reluctance in Community Towards COVID-19 Vaccines.

PHE’s strategic response director Susan Hopkins told reporters, “Overall, we’re seeing a really strong effect to reducing any infection, asymptomatic and symptomatic.” “Hospitalisation and deaths rates are falling in all age groups, but the oldest age groups are seeing the fastest decline since the peak in mid-January,” the organisation said in a statement.

UK was the first country to approve the COVID-19 vaccine developed by US drugmaker Pfizer Inc in collaboration with Germany's BioNTech. Its health regulator showed green signal to the vaccine in December last year. Following this, several countries including the US, Germany, Singapore have approved the vaccine.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 23, 2021 10:12 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).