COVID-19 Vaccines Ranked For Preventing Hospitalization

The U.S. CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published on September 17, 2021, disclosed among U.S. adults without immunocompromising conditions, vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19 hospitalization from March to August 15, 2021, was higher for the:

• Moderna SpikeVax vaccine (93%),
• Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine (88%), and
• Janssen vaccine (71%).

Although these real-world data from the CDC suggest some variation in levels of protection by each vaccine, these FDA-Approved or Authorized COVID-19 vaccines provide substantial protection against COVID-19 hospitalization.

'Understanding differences in VE by vaccine product can guide individual choices and recommendations regarding (potential) vaccine boosters.'

However, the findings in this CDC report are subject to at least six limitations, including but not limited to product-specific VE by SARS-CoV-2 betacoronavirus variant, including against Delta variants (B.1.617.2 and AY sublineages), not being evaluated.

Finally, antibody levels were measured at only a single time point 2–6 weeks after vaccination, and changes in antibody response over time and cell-mediated immune responses were not assessed.

MMWR and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports are the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services service marks.