It is true/correct. It's much easier to measure hospitalizations rather than infection, and the #s in the real world confirmed the advertised effectiveness from the trial, for Alpha.
I think you're wrong. For instance, this website about the emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine says, for equal sized vaccinated and control groups, that
> Vaccine efficacy against hospitalization due to COVID-19 was 89% (95% CI: 13%, 89%). Deaths were also uncommon, 6 in the vaccine group and 7 in the placebo group.
> Vaccine efficacy against hospitalization due to COVID-19 was 89% (95% CI: 13%, 89%). Deaths were also uncommon, 6 in the vaccine group and 7 in the placebo group.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/recs/grade/covid-19-modern...
In other words, there was not nearly enough data to tell whether it was effective at reducing deaths, and only weak data on hospitalizations.
Do you have a cite that describes it otherwise? If not, please edit your comment.