CORONAVIRUS vaccines could reduce chances of hospitalisation by as much as 94 per cent just four weeks after the first dose, new studies suggest.

Experts have analysed Covid-19 hospital admissions in Scotland among people who have had their first jab compared to those who had not yet received a vaccine.

Scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Glasgow and St Andrews and Public Health Scotland (PHS) looked at data on people who had received either the Pfizer/BioNTech jab or the one developed by scientists at the University of Oxford with AstraZeneca.

Four weeks after receiving the initial dose, the Oxford jab appeared to reduce a person’s risk of hospital admission by 94%.

Those who received the Pfizer jab had a reduction in risk of 85% between 28 and 34 days after the first dose.

Data for the two jabs combined showed that among people over the age of 80 – who are at high risk of severe disease – the reduction in risk of hospital admission was 81% four weeks after the first dose.

Lead researcher, professor Aziz Sheikh, director of the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, said: “These results are very encouraging and have given us great reasons to be optimistic for the future.

“We now have national evidence – across an entire country – that vaccination provides protection against Covid-19 hospitalisations.

“Rollout of the first vaccine dose now needs to be accelerated globally to help overcome this terrible disease.”

The study team said the findings are applicable to other countries using the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines.

The study is the first to describe a country-wide effect of the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs in the community on preventing severe illness resulting in hospital admissions.

The researchers examined data between between December 8 and 15 February 15. During this period, 1.14 million vaccines were administered in Scotland – 21% of the Scottish population.

Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England and co-lead for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), said: “This research provides encouraging early data on the impact of vaccination on reducing hospitalisations.”