The COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer BioNTech is known as Comirnaty. Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group/Daily Local News via Getty Images
Independent experts at the CDC voted unanimously Monday to recommend Pfizer's vaccination to anyone over 16.
They weighed both the benefits and risks of vaccination in their decision.
The team reviewed graphs and tables that showed that even though mild infections can occur in vaccinated individuals, Pfizer's vaccine is very effective at keeping them alive and out the hospital.
Check out more stories from Insider's business page.
The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer is now approved for all people over 16 years of age. It's also recommended.
Monday's unanimous vote by an independent advisory panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was in favor of recommending the vaccine.
These 14 experts voted based on overwhelming evidence that Pfizer’s 2-shot vaccine, Comirnaty (which was approved by FDA last week), is safe and effective in preventing diseases.
Independent experts from the CDC panel cheered the creation of COVID-19 vaccines during a pandemic. They called it a "miraculous achievement" and "a momentous scientific innovation."
These eight graphs and charts show why Pfizer's vaccine received a huge thumbs-up:
The COVID-19 vaccines do a fantastic job of keeping people healthy and alive.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ACIP meeting Aug. 30, 2021 https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/slides-2021-08-30.html
The CDC committee examined data from the US and found that COVID-19 hospitalizations for adults who have not been vaccinated are at 16 times the rate of those who have.
According to CDC data, 0.006% (less than 9,000) of vaccinated Americans had suffered a severe case of COVID-19 as of August 23.
Even smaller is the number of people who have died from COVID-19 among vaccinated. Only 2,063, or 0.3%, of the 636,015 American deaths from COVID-19 were among vaccinated persons. This is a small fraction considering that there are more than 174,000,000 people who have been fully vaccinated in the US.
Continue the story
This year, hospitalizations for unvaccinated persons under 50 are at an all-time high.
These rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations are tracked by the CDC through COVIDNET. This system collects data every week from 250 hospitals in 14 states.
Due to the Delta variant, it is true that COVID-19 is now being caught by more people who have been vaccinated. However, their cases are usually mild and vaccines can still prevent severe disease.
The CDC created this graph for its advisory committee. It is based upon 14 independent studies by experts from around the globe that evaluated how COVID-19 vaccines perform in the face the Delta variant.
The blue circles indicate studies that only evaluated Pfizer, while the red circles refer to studies that included Moderna and Pfizer. The left-hand Y-axis represents the vaccine effectiveness as determined by each study.
You can see that the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines against any infection ranges from 40% to 80% in these new studies.
This is in keeping with the fact that Delta is more contagious. Because Delta is more contagious than other variants and spreads faster from one person to another, vaccinated individuals are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection if they are exposed to others who are contagious.
The COVID-19 vaccine is still more than 80% effective against severe diseases in all these new studies. This suggests that vaccines are still doing their primary job, which is to fight severe infections in vaccinated persons.
Even with Delta, hospitalizations of vaccinated people are rare.
These graphs were also created by CDC. They combine the results of six studies in the US, UK, and Israel that each attempt to compare COVID-19's effectiveness before and after Delta was discovered.
The percentages of vaccine effectiveness before Delta are represented by the blue dots. The orange dots indicate Delta vaccine effectiveness.
The graph to the left shows that vaccine effectiveness has decreased for any symptomatic disease associated with Delta. However, the graph to the right tells us more about the story. It indicates that severe COVID-19 and hospitalizations are still uncommon in people who have been vaccinated.
Instead of becoming very sick and ending up in the hospital, people who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 may experience more common symptoms like headaches, sniffles or fever.
The amount of suffering that could have been avoided by more vaccinations in the 16-29 age group is astounding, even if they are healthy and young.
This graph considers a lower level of vaccine effectiveness with Delta, but still shows (in the light blue bars), a large number hospitalizations that could be avoided if Pfizer's vaccine was used in young adults between 16 and 29.
9.980 children under 29 could be discharged from COVID-19 if Pfizer administers a million doses of its vaccine.
The darker blue bars indicate more serious COVID-19 cases in intensive care units. The CDC estimates that for every 1 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, 1,300 people between 16 and 29 will not be admitted to the ICU.
The red bars to the right show how these tangible benefits compare with the risk of myocarditis in every age group.
Myocarditis can be treated and is temporary.
According to the CDC, for every million doses Pfizer vaccine administered, approximately 136 teenagers and young adults are at risk of developing myocarditis.
Panel members affirmed that Pfizer's shot has many benefits over the small risk of myocarditis (an inflammation of the heart) in teenagers and young adults.
The chart shows that myocarditis is more common in young men aged 16-24. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ACIP meeting August 30, 2021
This chart displays the expected number of myocarditis patients after vaccination with Pfizer’s shot. It is broken down by age, sex, and per million doses.
For every 1,000,000 doses of COVID-19, it is estimated that there would be less than 150 cases of myocarditis in teenagers and young adults aged 16-29.
Vaccination in the same age group could prevent hundreds of thousands of COVID-19-related cases, some of which can be life-threatening.
Myocarditis can be treated and is temporary.
It is also rare to have allergic reactions following Pfizer's vaccine. However, they are treatable.
The red line in the table shows the expected number of anaphylaxis patients per million vaccine doses. This is for Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer shots.
Pfizer now expects that there will be five anaphylactic reactions after vaccination, which is half the rate experts originally thought.
Anaphylaxis can generally be treated with epinephrine. All COVID-19 vaccination centers nationwide must have it on hand.
"I'm thrilled to announce that we now have a fully FDA-approved, CDC recommended vaccine," CDC Director Rochelle Wilensky stated during a White House briefing Tuesday afternoon. In a nod towards all the new data, she said,
"Anyone who has waited to get vaccinated until there was more evidence of safety and effectiveness can now join the over 170 million people who are vaccinated against COVID 19.
Business Insider has the original article.
