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A health worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine to a woman at a vaccination center in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap News)

A joint cross-validation of domestic and international research findings by the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA) and Korean Academy of Medical Sciences (KAMS) found significant effects in preventing COVID-19 Delta variant infections, hospitalizations, deaths among those who have received both doses of the vaccines developed by AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna.

The NECA and KAMS published their findings Thursday in a report titled “Rapid Examination of Issues Related to COVID-19 Vaccines.”

For the study, the two institutions conducted a cross-validation of the viral variant prevention effects of COVID-19 vaccines through July 8 based on Korean and overseas medical article databases and pre-publication databases, as well as a bibliographic search for major publications related to COVID-19 vaccines.

The research found that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine exhibited 89-93.4% effectiveness at preventing infection with the Alpha variant of the coronavirus, 79-88% effectiveness against the Delta variant, and 84% effectiveness against Beta and Gamma. Two doses of AstraZeneca showed 66.1-74% effectiveness against Alpha and 60-88% effectiveness against Delta, while one dose of AstraZeneca was 48% effective against Beta and Gamma.

Furthermore, two doses of the Moderna vaccine were 92% effective at preventing infection with the Alpha variant, while one dose exhibited a 72% efficacy against Delta and a 77% efficacy against Beta and Gamma.

These vaccines were even more effective against hospitalization and death. Two doses of Pfizer were 95% effective at preventing hospitalization and death from Alpha, 96% effective at preventing hospitalization from Delta, and 95% effective at preventing hospitalization and death from Beta and Gamma.

Two doses of AstraZeneca were 86% effective at preventing hospitalization from Alpha and 92% effective at preventing hospitalization from Delta, while one dose of AstraZeneca was 83% effective at preventing hospitalization and death from Beta and Gamma.

Two doses of Moderna were seen to be 94% effective at preventing hospitalization and death from Alpha, while one dose of Moderna was 96% effective at preventing hospitalization and death from Delta and 89% effective in the same categories against Gamma and Beta.

“The effectiveness of the vaccines against the virus variants is somewhat lower than against the original coronavirus, but two doses of the vaccines were more than 80% effective at preventing infection. Significantly, one dose of these vaccines reduced hospitalization and death from variant infections by 78-96% while two doses reduced them by 86-96%,” the researchers said about their findings.

By Kim Ji-hoon, staff reporter

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