nference and Mayo Clinic Study Confirms Effectiveness of Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccines Against COVID-19 Alpha and Delta Variants

A retrospective comparative study confirmed that both vaccines provide strong protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Excerpt from the Press Release:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — nference, the AI-driven health technology company, announced today publication of a peer-reviewed study in Med that analyzed Mayo Clinic based data with nference artificial intelligence (AI) software to determine that both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were over 70% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 between December 2020 and September 2021, including periods of Alpha and Delta variants of concern circulation.

The authors of “Comparative effectiveness of mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2 against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection” used a test-negative case-control design to assess the odds of symptomatic infection after full vaccination against COVID-19 with either mRNA-1273 (the Moderna vaccine) or BNT162b2 (the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine).

The data from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Iowa and Florida was retrospectively collected at Mayo Clinic between December 2020 and September 2021, and retrospectively reviewed to examine the ongoing real-world effectiveness of each vaccine. The results indicated that over the whole study duration, the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were 84% and 76% effective against symptomatic COVID-19, respectively. Their effectiveness was lower during the recent Delta variant-dominated months, but both vaccines have continued to offer strong protection against symptomatic disease in this period, with effectiveness estimates of 76% and 64%, respectively. The authors note that the reduced effectiveness in later months could be due to less efficient neutralization of the Delta variant, waning of vaccine-elicited immunity over time, changes in nonpharmaceutical interventions (e.g., masking policies, physical distancing, and travel restrictions), or a combination of these factors.

Med is Cell Press’s flagship medical journal, improving global health and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and ideas among researchers, clinicians, biotech and pharma scientists, and health policy experts.

“This study further supports the effectiveness of both mRNA vaccines in preventing COVID-19 despite the evolution  and spread of multiple variants of concern during the study period,” said AJ Venkatakrishnan, PhD, Vice President of Scientific Research at nference and co-author of the study.

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