The study, published late on Saturday, showed that "the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 [Indian] variant 2 weeks after the second dose," while the effectiveness of the two-dose course of the AstraZeneca drug against the strain stood at 60%.
As for the first shot of both vaccines, they both proved 33% effective in three weeks after inoculation, according to the agency.
The PHE also noted that second shots of Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines were 93% and 66% effective, respectively, against the UK-linked coronavirus mutation B.1.1.7, while the first inoculation had about 50% effectiveness against the same strain for both.
The PHE study was conducted from April 5 - May 16 and involved 1,054 people infected with the Indian variant.
To date, 37,726,924 UK citizens have been vaccinated at least once, the second dose was given to a total of 22,071,497 people. The country has confirmed more than 4.4 million coronavirus cases with the death toll at nearly 128,000.
