Two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine appear to provide 70 percent protection against hospitalisation from the Omicron coronavirus variant , according to an extensive real-world study in South Africa. The analysis released on Tuesday by South Africa’s largest private health insurance administrator, Discovery Health, was based on more than 211,000 positive Covid-19 test results of adults from November 15 to December 7, about 78,000 of which were attributed to Omicron.
with omicron that fell to 70%. so two doses of pfizer, is holding up well there. there are other indicators that omicron is causing less serious infections. mia malan is a senior editor, reporting on the health system in south africa. we also have data that shows that hospital stays are shorter and that we have fewer patients requiring oxygen and that people seem to recover quicker. for instance if they are not hospitalised it feels like the average person against covid 19 recovers within three days. scientists caution that it s still very early days. here s david nabarro from the world health organisation on where research on omicron has got to. this is like a detective story.