All vaccines against COVID-19, which have received emergency use authorization in the U.S., are effective in people with obesity, noted a new position statement issued by the Obesity Society.

A review of data available on the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines revealed that their efficacy was not significantly different between people with obesity and those without, reported authors in the journal Obesity. The Obesity Society therefore recommends that all people with obesity (BMI 30 or higher) should get vaccinated with any of the available vaccines.

For Pfizer vaccine, the overall efficacy in more than 36,000 participants without previous infection was 95.0%, compared with placebo. On segregating the people into those with and without obesity, the vaccine efficacy was 95.4% in the participants aged 16 and above (32% of the cohort) with obesity (BMI 30 or higher), while it was 94.8% among those without obesity. For Moderna vaccine, the overall efficacy was 94.1% among subjects without previous infection. Among obese subjects (35% of the cohort), the efficacy was 95.8%. In a subgroup with severe obesity (BMI 40 or higher), vaccine efficacy was 91.2%. For Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the efficacy was 66.1% for preventing moderate to severe or critical COVID-19 infection, 28 days after vaccination. J&J trial included 12,492 participants with obesity (29% of the overall cohort), and for these participants, vaccine efficacy was 66.8%, 14 days following immunization and 65.9% after 28 days of vaccination… (Medpage Today)