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Side effects relatively rare for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, study says

By Brian Buntz | April 30, 2021

Pfizer BioNTech vaccine COVID-19 vaccineA recent study found that only 13.5% of recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) had systemic side effects after the first dose. That figure climbed to 22.0% after the second dose.

Conversely, just over one-third (33.7%) of recipients of the first dose of vaccine from AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) had systemic side effects, according to the study published in The Lancet. The study didn’t have data regarding the adverse events from the second AstraZeneca dose.

Among those with a prior COVID-19 infection, however, systemic side effects were 2.9 times more common in recipients of the first Pfizer vaccine than those who were infection naive. For recipients of the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, such side effects were 1.6 times more common in those previously infected with COVID-19.

The study, which involved 627,383 participants, ran from Dec. 8 to March 10.

Local side effects (frequently injection-site pain and tenderness) were more common than systemic events, occurring in 71.9% of recipients of the first dose of Pfizer vaccine and 68.5% of those receiving the second. A total of 58.7% of those receiving the first dose of the ChAdOx1 AstraZeneca vaccine had local side effects.

Prior exposure to COVID-19 did not appear to influence the rate of local side effects significantly.

The Pfizer vaccine yielded 69% protection against infection risk between 21 and 44 days after administering the first dose. That figure climbed to 72% between 45 and 59 days after the initial vaccination.

A single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine offered 60% protection 12 days after the first dose.


Filed Under: Drug Discovery, Infectious Disease
Tagged With: AstraZeneca plc, BioNTech, coronavirus, covid-19, COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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