Two doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) give 70% protection against the emerging Omicron variant, according to South Africa's largest private health insurance company Discovery Health.

The latest data is likely to provide some calmness to investors and markets who fear that existing vaccines can’t provide necessary protection against the highly-mutated Omicron variant.

Early data show that two doses provide 70% protection against hospitalization and 33% protection against infection.

The study was based on over 211,000 positive COVID-19 test results, of which nearly 40% were attributed to Omicron.