The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is slightly more effective at preventing serious illness from the virus than its counterpart from Pfizer-BioNTech, according to data released Friday by the
However, both two-dose vaccines, which have similar formulations, are better at reducing the risk for hospitalization due to coronavirus infection than the one-dose
The
The protection against serious illness created by the vaccine remains above 90% for at least four months, they said.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccined reduces hospitalization risk by 88% among the fully vaccinated, but this protection drops to 77% four months later.
The one-dose
"Two-dose regimens of the
However, the
The findings are based on an evaluation of antibody levels among roughly 4,500 adults fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and a comparison of hospitalization rates among those inoculated and about 2,400 unvaccinated adults.
Antibodies are cells produced by the immune system to fight off viruses, and the vaccines are designed to boost anti-coronavirus antibody levels.
The new data includes vaccination and hospitalization data from
Last week, data from the
Separately, studies in
However, these studies involved the Alpha, or British, variant as opposed to the Delta variant, which is believed to have originated in
"These real-world data suggest some variation in levels of protection by vaccine," the
However, "all FDA-approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccines provide substantial protection against COVID-19 hospitalization," they said.
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