January 2022
GAZETTE
COVID-19: THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF CLINICAL TRIALS WORLDWIDE, IN WHICH 2 ARGENTINES PARTICIPATED, CONFIRMED THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF THE VACCINES
THE STUDY RATES THE BENEFIT OF VACCINES “INDISCUTABLE” AND POINTS OUT THAT THE MESSENGER RNA VACCINES (MADE BY PFIZER/BIONTECH Y Modern) WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN PREVENTING SYMPTOMATIC INFECTION, WHILE VIRAL VECTOR VACCINES (SUCH AS SPUTNIK V WAVE OF ASTRAZENECA), WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN REDUCE MORTALITY.
The most exhaustive analysis of clinical trials on COVID-19 vaccines carried out to date, led by an international team that included two Argentine researchers, confirmed the effectiveness and safety of vaccination. The study also identified some differential features of the different platforms through a comparative ranking.
The work was led by researchers from Copenhagen Trial Unit, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and also signed by authors from Canada, the United Kingdom, Zambia, Nigeria and two Argentines, both members of the Institute of Clinical and Health Effectiveness (IECS), an academic institution affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires.
The study was published this week in the open access journal PLOS ONE and examined 35 studies published until June 17, 2021 with vaccines from different platforms. The researchers used a methodology called “live systematic review with sequential analysis of trials and a network meta-analysis”, which allows synthesizing all previous publications on the topic and making comparisons of efficacy and safety between different products.
"The evidence shows that All vaccines are effective in preventing COVID-19 and especially serious complications of the disease, including death, Therefore, I hope that this work contributes to eliminate the doubts of those who do not know or still distrust the benefits of vaccination and have not yet been immunized, as well as those who were vaccinated, but did not complete the recommended schedule”, He said Dr. Agustín Ciapponi, director of the Argentine Cochrane Center of the IECS, doctor in Public Health and principal investigator of CONICET.
“Messenger RNA vaccines (made by Pfizer / BioNTech y Modern) would appear more effective in preventing symptomatic infection and viral vector vaccines (as the Sputnik VU or of AstraZeneca) would seem more effective for reduce mortality, but the benefit of all of them is indisputable," He added.
According to the study, The efficacy in preventing COVID-19 was shown to be 95% for messenger RNA vaccines; 61% for vaccines inactivated (such as those of A nephew y Synopharm); 77% for protein subunits (as novavax) and 68% for viral vectors (as Sputnik VU or those of AstraZeneca y Janssen).
Instead, When their ability to prevent deaths was assessed, all vaccines were shown to be more effective than placebos or controls, but those with viral vectors had the most marked effect.
A RANKING OF THE BEST OPTIONS
The study provides a rigorous methodology to establish comparisons between different vaccines, even when they have been tested in different populations.
El network meta-analysis “It allows multiple treatments or preventive interventions to be weighed simultaneously - not just two - for a given disease, being able to establish a ranking of their usefulness. Have a ranking of the best options allows for a better informed decision about which treatment or intervention is optimal for patients, and at the same time it serves in public health to assist decisions on coverage policies,” explained the other Argentine author of this work, the Dr. Ariel Bardach, master in Epidemiology and director of the Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIESP), a dual CONICET-IECS executing unit.
ABOUT IECS: The IECS is an independent, non-profit academic institution dedicated to research, education and technical cooperation in health. Founded in 2002, it is an institution affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) that houses a CONICET executing unit, a WHO Collaborating center and a Cochrane Center. The mission of the IECS is “to contribute to improving global health, generating and promoting the application of the best scientific evidence.”
IECS PRESS CONTACT:
Lic. Mariana Comolli, Coordinator of the Communication Unit.
Tel.: (011) 4777-8767 ext. 133. mcomolli@iecs.org.ar