How effective are these vaccines?
Initial results of studies of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines show that the vaccine decreased the risk of developing COVID-19 by about 95%. By comparison, the influenza vaccine each year is about 40-70% effective.
What does 95% effective mean anyway? Does that mean that my chances of getting COVID are now only 5%?
Not exactly. In the Pfizer study, out of over 43,000 participants, 162 participants who received placebo (a saline injection) got sick with COVID-19 and only 8 participants who received the vaccine got sick with COVID-19. So, of the people who got COVID in the clinical trial, only 5% were among people who got the vaccine and the other 95% got the placebo (saline injection that did not have any active parts of the vaccine.)
Is this effective in Black people above the age of 70? What about other people of color?
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines included people from diverse backgrounds (30% in the Pfizer study and 37% in the Moderna study). They both included older adults with at least 20% of individuals being over the age of 65. When each study evaluated the outcomes of each trial, they did not find any differences by age or race/ethnicity.
Comments