Moderna Better Than Pfizer Against Delta Variant, Report Suggests

ACROSS AMERICA — Americans who get the Moderna coronavirus vaccine may be much better protected from getting the virus than those who have been vaccinated via Pfizer. A Mayo Clinic study that has yet to be peer-reviewed shows significantly different rates between recipients of the two vaccines as the delta variant remains prevalent in much of the country, CNBC and others have reported.

The risk of a breakthrough case in Florida in July was 60 percent lower for Moderna recipients, according to the study. In Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic vaccine study authors last month found Moderna was 76 percent effective at preventing coronavirus infection, compared to Pfizer's 42 percent.

The study — which compared infection rates among vaccinated people in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida and Iowa — points to Minnesota's change in delta variant prevalence, going from 0.7 percent in May to more than 70 percent in July. During the same time, the alpha variant's prevalence in the state went from 85 percent to 13 percent.

Still, both vaccines "strongly protect" against severe disease.

"Our observational study highlights that while both mRNA COVID-19 vaccines strongly protect against infection and severe disease, further evaluation of mechanisms underlying differences in their effectiveness such as dosing regimens and vaccine composition are warranted," study authors wrote.

Moderna, they added, has “a two-fold risk reduction against breakthrough infection.”

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