A healthcare worker fills a syringe with Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in Zurich, Switzerland. Reuters
A healthcare worker fills a syringe with Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in Zurich, Switzerland. Reuters
A healthcare worker fills a syringe with Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in Zurich, Switzerland. Reuters
A healthcare worker fills a syringe with Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in Zurich, Switzerland. Reuters

Coronavirus

Moderna and Sputnik edge out Pfizer in study of five Covid-19 vaccines

Moderna vaccine found to be most effective at preventing infection and death from Covid

Soraya Ebrahimi
Soraya Ebrahimi

November 25, 2021

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  • Arabic

The Moderna and Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccines both edged out the one from Pfizer-BioNTech in effectiveness in a large-scale study of five different shots conducted by Hungarian researchers.

Moderna’s vaccine was 88.7 per cent effective in protecting against coronavirus infection and 93.6 per cent effective against Covid-related mortality, compared with 85.7 per cent and 95.4 per cent, respectively, for Sputnik, said a paper published on Wednesday on the website of the medical journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection.

Pfizer came in third with 83.3 per cent and 90.6 per cent, respectively.

The research reviewed the effectiveness of five vaccines at least seven days after study subjects had received their second dose. Data from more than 3.7 million vaccinated people aged 16 and over were reviewed from January to June of this year.

“The wide range of vaccines available in Hungary allows for the assessment of vaccine effectiveness in a real-world setting in a Central European country and puts Hungary in the unique position of providing detailed information on multiple vaccine types from the same country,” wrote the authors, who include Hungary’s minister in charge of health care, Miklos Kasler, and chief medical officer Cecilia Muller.

Pfizer was administered most frequently, to 1.5 million people, followed by China’s Sinopharm at 895,465, Russia’s Sputnik V at 820,560, AstraZeneca at 304,138 and Moderna at 222,892, the study showed.

And Pfizer and China’s Sinopharm had the highest share of vaccines administered to those aged 65 and over, while Sputnik had the lowest share, data showed.

AstraZeneca displayed 71.5 per cent effectiveness against infection and 74.5 per cent against Covid-related death, while Sinopharm had 68.7 per cent effectiveness against infection and 87.8 per cent against death.

Both AstraZeneca and Sinopharm had less than 50 per cent effectiveness against Covid infection in people aged 85 and older, the study found.

This is compared to 90.9 per cent for the same age group for Sputnik, 84.1 per cent for Moderna and 74.3 per cent for Pfizer.

Hungary had one of the world's highest Covid-related deaths per capita earlier this year. The country, whose vaccination rates lag behind the western European average, reported a record number of daily infections on Wednesday as the fourth wave of the virus continued to spread.

Champions parade (UAE timings)

7pm Gates open

8pm Deansgate stage showing starts

9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral

9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street

10pm City players on stage

11pm event ends

Match info

Costa Rica 0

Serbia 1
Kolarov (56')

RESULT

Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)

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Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

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Wednesday

4.15pm: Japan v Spain (Group A)

5.30pm: UAE v Italy (Group A)

6.45pm: Russia v Mexico (Group B)

8pm: Iran v Egypt (Group B)

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Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.

“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.

Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.

He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.

Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”

Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE

Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:

• Buy second hand stuff

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• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres

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A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

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Route 2: online platform

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Updated: November 25, 2021, 9:24 PM
Coronavirus