Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the most effective booster jabs against Coronavirus (COVID-19), a new study published in The Lancet indicated.
Following tests on nearly 3,000 people, the study found the vaccines, that are based on mRNA technology, gave the strongest boost to antibodies and T-cells, especially if administered after two initial doses of the AstraZeneca jab.
Britain decided to use the Pfizer and Moderna jabs for its COVID-19 booster.
Professor Saul Faust from the University Hospital Southampton, who led the trial, said all the vaccines studied gave a statistically significant boost to immunity.
The mRNA jobs made by Pfizer and Moderna scored very high, he said, but there were “very effective boosts from Novavax, Janssen, and AstraZeneca as well."
All the vaccines performed well against established variants of the virus, though they were not tested against omicron,
"Our hope as scientists is that protection against hospitalisation and death will remain intact,” said Faust.
The immunity of the control group was assessed after 28 days and will be looked at again after three months and a year.
Fatigue, headache, and a sore arm were the main side effects with no major safety issues.
Moderna’s jab, meanwhile, has also been shown to be effective in a study in California.
Kaiser Permanente tracked 706,000 adults for five months with half of the study group receiving the vaccine.
At the end of the period the jab was 87% effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection, 96% effective against COVID-19 hospitalisation, and 98% effective against COVID-19 death, Reuters reported.