Which vaccine is most effective?

All of the vaccines approved in Canada are very effective against severe illness and death. Doctors recommend you take the first vaccine available to you to ensure you get protected as early as possible.

In other words, the best vaccine is the first one you can get.

The vaccines are all trying to achieve the same thing – to give you immunity against COVID-19 and substantially decrease the risk of severe illness and death.

While different overall efficacy rates have been reported, these numbers also include people who developed mild symptoms. Experts have said it’s not appropriate to compare the efficacy numbers for different vaccines because the clinical trials for each vaccine were different. Dr. Joss Reimer, the Manitoba medical lead on vaccines, has explained that the clinical trials for each vaccine were “done in different populations, at different times, in different countries, with different variants circulating, and different amounts of virus circulating.” 

New studies with real-world data are helping us to better understand the true effectiveness of the vaccines. So far, these studies are finding the approved vaccines to be highly effective at preventing severe disease, hospitalization and death. 

Find out more about vaccine effectiveness from:

• Vaccines lead to 85%-94% decline in risk of hospitalization in Scotland (British Medical Journal)

• Vaccine found 94% effective in real world (Israel experience)

• New Data Show Vaccines Reduce Severe COVID-19 in Older Adults (UK Government)