• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Vaccines Cut Household Transmission in Half After One Dose

by Will Jones
29 April 2021 12:34 AM

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has described as “terrific” the findings of a new Public Health England study that shows one dose of the vaccines can cut household transmission by up to 50%.

This is indeed good news – and not unexpected, since the vaccines have been shown to reduce symptoms, and symptomatic disease is what drives transmission.

However, it’s worth being aware that this is the relative risk reduction. The absolute risk reduction (as always) does not look quite so impressive.

In fact, one of the remarkable findings of the study is that of 960,765 unvaccinated household contacts of unvaccinated index cases testing positive, just 10.1% of them (96,898) caught the disease. This means around 90% of unvaccinated people living in the same house as someone with COVID-19 didn’t catch it themselves. This low secondary attack rate is an indication of the level of immunity the population already has to the virus, whether from innate, pre-existing or acquired immunity, even before vaccines come into the picture.

The study identified 3,424 unvaccinated household contacts of index cases who tested positive despite receiving their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at least 21 days earlier. Of these, 196 tested positive themselves, giving a secondary attack rate of 5.7%.

For the Pfizer vaccine the same figures were 371 secondary cases testing positive out of 5,939 unvaccinated household contacts, giving a secondary attack rate of 6.3%.

This means in absolute terms the risk for household members of catching Covid from an infected household index case was reduced from around 10% when the index case was an unvaccinated person to around 6% when he or she was vaccinated, a drop of 4%. This is encouraging, if not as big as might be hoped – though it may improve after the second dose.

For unexplained reasons the study does not look at symptoms at all, so we have no idea how many of the vaccinated positive cases were asymptomatic or how severe their symptoms were. Other studies suggest that positive cases are more likely to be asymptomatic or mild in those with immunity (whether from infection or vaccination) and this is likely to explain much of the drop in secondary attack rate for the household contacts of index cases who are vaccinated but test positive.

This cheering news on the effectiveness of the vaccines for cutting transmission gives the Government even less reason to stick to its glacial reopening strategy.

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Coronavirus Spike Protein Alone May Cause Lung Damage

Next Post

News Round Up

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

38 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic | Episode 41: David Shipley on the Rape Gangs Inquiry, Tom Jones on the Ballymena Riots and Ben Pile On Dimming the Sun

by Richard Eldred
20 June 2025
2

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

21 June 2025
by Will Jones

This Pride Month, Who Will Protect Us From ‘Protect the Dolls’?

21 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

NHS Staff Demand Right to Stop Working if it Gets Too Hot

20 June 2025
by Will Jones

The Last Chance to Save Britain?

21 June 2025
by Sallust

Assisted Suicide to Become Law as MPs Back Bill by 23 Votes

20 June 2025
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

52

NHS Staff Demand Right to Stop Working if it Gets Too Hot

22

Assisted Suicide to Become Law as MPs Back Bill by 23 Votes

42

The Last Chance to Save Britain?

18

Palestine Action Banned as Terrorist Organisation

13

The Last Chance to Save Britain?

21 June 2025
by Sallust

This Pride Month, Who Will Protect Us From ‘Protect the Dolls’?

21 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

Why Trump‘s ‘Gold Standard’ Executive Order is Essential to Restoring Truth in Science

20 June 2025
by Tilak Doshi

Universities Are a Conspiracy Against the Public

20 June 2025
by James Alexander

Iran Threatens Energy Market Meltdown as it “Reviews” Closure of Strait of Hormuz

19 June 2025
by Tilak Doshi

POSTS BY DATE

April 2021
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« Mar   May »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

April 2021
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« Mar   May »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

21 June 2025
by Will Jones

This Pride Month, Who Will Protect Us From ‘Protect the Dolls’?

21 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

NHS Staff Demand Right to Stop Working if it Gets Too Hot

20 June 2025
by Will Jones

The Last Chance to Save Britain?

21 June 2025
by Sallust

Assisted Suicide to Become Law as MPs Back Bill by 23 Votes

20 June 2025
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

52

NHS Staff Demand Right to Stop Working if it Gets Too Hot

22

Assisted Suicide to Become Law as MPs Back Bill by 23 Votes

42

The Last Chance to Save Britain?

18

Palestine Action Banned as Terrorist Organisation

13

The Last Chance to Save Britain?

21 June 2025
by Sallust

This Pride Month, Who Will Protect Us From ‘Protect the Dolls’?

21 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

Why Trump‘s ‘Gold Standard’ Executive Order is Essential to Restoring Truth in Science

20 June 2025
by Tilak Doshi

Universities Are a Conspiracy Against the Public

20 June 2025
by James Alexander

Iran Threatens Energy Market Meltdown as it “Reviews” Closure of Strait of Hormuz

19 June 2025
by Tilak Doshi

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment