WASHINGTON — Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is the most effective at protecting against COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to a study published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An analysis of more than 3,600 adults hospitalized at 21 U.S. facilities from March to August found that vaccine efficacy against hospitalization was 93 percent for the Moderna vaccine compared to 88 percent for the BioNTech/Pfizer shot.
The effectiveness of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine declined significantly after 120 days, the CDC’s report said, although it still provided strong protection against severe disease.
The Moderna vaccine also produced higher post-vaccination antibody levels than the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, the study found.
The CDC has released several studies looking at vaccine efficacy in particular groups, such as frontline health care workers, as the administration prepares to roll out boosters to at least some adults in the coming weeks. While some of those studies have included data on efficacy of the various vaccines, the study published Friday offers greater insight into the extent to which Moderna, BioNTech/Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson protect against severe disease and COVID-19 hospitalization.
The data from the recent CDC cohort study suggests that the two-dose Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine regimens protect better against hospitalization than the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. However, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine still reduced risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization by 71 percent.
Although the efficacy of the vaccines varied, the CDC study showed that all of the FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines still work well at protecting against COVID-19 hospitalization.