--- title: Pfizer-BioNTech Report First Long-Term Vaccine Results description: Pfizer-BioNTech say the shot is still efficacious up to six months after the final dose, and seems to have promise against mutant variants. canonical: https://time.com/5951723/pfizer-biontech-long-term-vaccine-study/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-04-01T13:05:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:49:12.935Z article:section: Health og:title: Pfizer-BioNTech Report First Long-Term COVID Vaccine Results og:description: Pfizer-BioNTech say the shot is still efficacious up to six months after the final dose, and seems to have promise against mutant variants. og:url: https://time.com/5951723/pfizer-biontech-long-term-vaccine-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ca33c810385763a/698a186b97cdff54276bbcfb/GettyImages-1232039637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 7863 og:image:height: 4423 og:image:alt: Pfizer And Moderna Have Begun Testing Their Vaccines On Children og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pfizer-BioNTech Report First Long-Term COVID Vaccine Results twitter:description: Pfizer-BioNTech say the shot is still efficacious up to six months after the final dose, and seems to have promise against mutant variants. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ca33c810385763a/698a186b97cdff54276bbcfb/GettyImages-1232039637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pfizer-BioNTech Report First Long-Term Study Results for COVID-19 Vaccine > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 1, 2021 1:05 PM UTC  A vial with a Pfizer label is seen with a syringa and needle in this photo illustration taken in Warsaw, Poland on March 31, 2021\. Pfizer and Moderna have started COVID-19 vaccine trials on children as young as 6 months and ages up to 11 years old in the US and Canada. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) A vial with a Pfizer label is seen with a syringa and needle in this photo illustration taken in Warsaw, Poland on March 31, 2021\. Pfizer and Moderna have started COVID-19 vaccine trials on children as young as 6 months and ages up to 11 years old in the US and Canada. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto via Getty Images—Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 1, 2021 1:05 PM UTC On April 1, Pfizer-BioNTech released results from the longest study yet of their COVID-19 vaccine. In a release, the companies reported that their two-dose vaccine was 91.3% efficacious in protecting people from COVID-19 disease for up to six months. The companies’ previous data, which led to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) [emergency use authorization](https://time.com/5920134/first-authorized-covid-19-vaccine-us/), included an average of two months of follow up of the study participants and showed 95% efficacy against the disease. The longer-term data will form the basis of Pfizer-BioNTech’s planned request to the FDA for formal approval of the vaccine soon. “It is an important step to further confirm the strong efficacy and good safety data we have seen so far, especially in a longer-term follow-up,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, of the results. The data, involving nearly 12,000 people who have been followed for at least six months after vaccination, also showed the two-dose shot was 100% efficacious in protecting them from severe disease as [defined](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html) by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (which means any disease requiring hospitalization, intensive care or a ventilator) and 95% efficacious in protecting against severe disease by the FDA’s broader [definition](https://www.fda.gov/media/137926/download), which includes any respiratory distress or shortness of breath at rest, or oxygen saturation below 93%. The companies also reported encouraging results on the vaccine’s ability to protect against the worrisome viral variant B.1.351, which was first identified in South Africa in late 2020\. The variant virus can spread more quickly among people and can’t be blocked by several of the antibody drugs developed to treat COVID-19 infection. Previous studies by the companies showed that antibodies generated by vaccinated people against this particular strain of the virus were several-fold lower than those mounted against the non-mutant virus, but still sufficient to adequately protect people from COVID-19\. The release did not specify if the data from the 800 participants in South Africa was collected mostly before or after the variant began circulating, but noted that there were no cases of COVID-19 disease reported among the vaccinated, and nine cases among the placebo group. Researchers sequenced the virus from these patients and six of the nine belonged to the variant strain. The findings support the companies’ position that the vaccine remains effective against the variant. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5951723/pfizer-biontech-long-term-vaccine-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5951723/pfizer-biontech-long-term-vaccine-study/"},"headline":"Pfizer-BioNTech Report First Long-Term Study Results for COVID-19 Vaccine","datePublished":"2021-04-01T13:05:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:49:12.935Z","description":"Pfizer-BioNTech say the shot is still efficacious up to six months after the final dose, and seems to have promise against mutant variants.","url":"https://time.com/5951723/pfizer-biontech-long-term-vaccine-study/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ca33c810385763a/698a186b97cdff54276bbcfb/GettyImages-1232039637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ca33c810385763a/698a186b97cdff54276bbcfb/GettyImages-1232039637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pfizer And Moderna Have Begun Testing Their Vaccines On Children","caption":"Pfizer And Moderna Have Begun Testing Their Vaccines On Children","creditText":"NurPhoto via Getty Images—Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5951723/pfizer-biontech-long-term-vaccine-study/","name":"Pfizer-BioNTech Report First Long-Term Study Results for COVID-19 Vaccine"}}]}] ```