Second study says Moderna is a more effective booster shot than Pfizer

Covid boosters with Pfizer and Moderna offer protection against Covid-19 – but one has again emerged as more effective in a second study.

Moderna has emerged as the best performing Covid vaccine in a second new study which compared it to the Pfizer jab.

Fewer people who were doubled dosed with Moderna’s vaccine contracted the virus compared to those vaccinated with Pfizer, according to research out of Qatar.

Researchers studied 200,000 people who received the Moderna jab with the same number of Pfizer recipients to track Covid-19 breakthrough infections.

Among those who received the Moderna jab there were 878 Covid-19 infections, three people were hospitalised with severe Covid-19 but there were no deaths or ICU admissions.

Among those who received the Pfizer jab there were 1262 breakthrough infections, seven hospitalisations, no ICU admissions and one death the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows.

A UK study published on Monday found a Moderna booster provided slightly stronger protection than a Pfizer booster.

The COVBOOST trial in the UK found a third dose of the Pfizer jab was 89.5 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic infection with Covid compared to people who had just two doses of the AstraZeneca shot.

Afaf Kadar receives her second Covid vaccination at the Melbourne Showgrounds. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

A Moderna booster was 95.3 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic disease compared to double vaccination with the AstraZeneca shot, the study published in the journal Nature Medicine found.

Among those who had two shots of Pfizer the effectiveness of the Pfizer booster is 82.8 per cent and Moderna 90.9 per cent compared to double vaccination.

Effectiveness rates of the booster shots were even higher when compared to unvaccinated individuals.

The study found the effectiveness of the booster jabs against symptomatic infection began to wane after around 10 weeks.

However, the booster jabs still provided very strong protection against hospitalisation and death.

The effectiveness of the Pfizer jab against hospitalisation and death was 97–99 per cent in all age groups irrespective of which vaccine a person had first.

There was no evidence protection against hospitalisation and death waned at 10 weeks.

“This study provides real world evidence of significant increased protection from the booster vaccine dose against mild and severe disease irrespective of the primary course,” the study authors said.

The study was carried out while the Delta variant was circulating.

Other research has suggested the booster vaccines are slightly less effective against the Omicron variant.

Against Omicron vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease rose to 65-75 per cent two to four weeks after a booster vaccine with either Pfizer or Moderna, other research has suggested.

Originally published as Second study says Moderna is a more effective booster shot than Pfizer