Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what level of protection one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provides against COVID-19; and what plans they have to publish the evidence base that informs their data on the effectiveness of one such dose.

Since the beginning of the vaccination programme, Public Health England (PHE) has been monitoring the effectiveness of the vaccines in the real world. PHE’s first analysis of the early effects of COVID-19 vaccination in England, using routine testing and vaccination data, was published on 1 March. The data shows effectiveness of a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against symptomatic COVID-19 reaches approximately 60% in those aged 70 and over in the general population, reaching 85% to 90% after two doses in those aged 80 years and over. The data also shows a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine is 80% and 95% effective at reducing hospitalisation and mortality from COVID-19, respectively, in those aged 70 and over. PHE’s latest vaccine effectiveness report can be found attached entitled, ‘Public Health England vaccine effectiveness report March 2021’