Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine stopped 50% of infections – not just symptoms

Israel has yet to see its infection and death toll drop after four weeks of the world’s fastest coronavirus vaccination program – but studies suggest the coup could possibly slow the contagion rate by 50%.

While more than 20% of the Israeli population has received an initial dose, infection rates are at an all-time high with more than 8,000 people testing positive per day and a record 1,102 people hospitalized with Covid- 19.

But while scientists say vaccine protection will typically take a week or two to take effect, Israel expects new hospitalizations to begin to decline soon.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli health ministry official offered a glimmer of hope to the rest of the world by announcing initial findings that the vaccine may not only stop symptoms, but also reduce the risk of transmission.

Trials of the Pfizer / BioNTech jab have shown that it is 95% effective in preventing people from becoming ill with Covid-19 if they are infected. But the new data suggests that the vaccine could also prevent people from getting infected.

Early studies on data from Israel’s world-beating vaccine campaign suggest that the first dose of the vaccine can reduce infections by up to 50% after 14 days – hoping vaccination efforts will have an even greater effect dramatic.

As Israel rolls out the world’s fastest vaccination program, delivering 1.9 million doses in less than four weeks, studies involving hundreds of thousands of people offer perhaps the most comprehensive actual data on the issue. efficacy of the vaccine.

Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the Department of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, announced the figure of 50% to Channel 12 news, while warning that the results are preliminary and should be treated with caution.

Separately, two research conducted by healthcare providers Maccabi and Calit showed that infections dropped by 60% and 33%, respectively, after a first dose of the vaccine.

The preliminary studies, which examined hundreds of thousands of patients, have both been reported in the Israeli media, although the data behind them has not been made public, meaning no explanation has been given. was given on the deviation of their numbers.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has warned Israelis to remain cautious even after a first dose of the vaccine, amid fears they could still catch the disease.

Dr Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the public health department of the Ministry of Health, told Israel Channel 12 that the research was preliminary and stressed the need for caution – even among those who received the first dose of jab.

Alroy-Preis noted that the data was not sufficient to conclude that the vaccine stops transmission of Covid-19, as it is believed that a person can still transmit the virus to others for a limited time if it becomes still found in his nasal cavity.

She added that nearly a fifth of the more than 1,000 severe Covid-19 patients in the country had previously received the first vaccine.

“Seventeen percent of new severe cases today, or 180 cases, occur after the first dose,” she told reporters.

Israel on Tuesday saw daily Covid-19 infections and active cases reach unprecedented highs, and despite optimistic signs, the country’s health minister also stressed the need for extreme caution.

The vaccine is only expected to give a person 95% immunity to Covid-19 a week after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. The deployment of the second dose in Israel is expected to begin this week, according to The Times of Israel.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Yuli Edelstein, the country’s health minister, warned that there is still a risk of catching the virus within two weeks of the coup, saying Israelis must remain vigilant.

“Those who get the first vaccine should always be very, very careful about their behavior, due to partial resistance to the disease,” Edelstein said.

“In my imagination it’s like the scene in the movie where you almost escape danger, and at the very last moment you catch a ball.

He added: “ It shows what we already know, which is that 95% full protection comes after two shots. ”

The two studies conducted by health maintenance organizations (HMOs) compiled data from about 400,000 patients they treated (800,000 in total), the reason for the discrepancy (60% and 33%) currently unclear.

The Clalit study compared the test results of a group of 200,000 people who had received the vaccine to a sample of 200,000 Israelis who had not received the vaccine.

The full study results have yet to be published or peer reviewed.

Israel’s immunization program is the fastest in the world so far and has given the vaccine to more than two million people – about 20 percent of its population.

The program operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even on the Jewish holiday of Shabbat, and is bolstered by hundreds of Israeli combat medics who have been reformed for duty.

Given that Pfizer’s Phase 3 trials only verified 40,000 people, data from Israel’s vaccination campaign may offer some of the best indicators of how well coronavirus vaccines are working.

The Times of Israel reports that the latest figure given by officials was 1,910,330 – although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the 2 millionth vaccine.

Israel has reported a total of 520,060 confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, with 3,817 related deaths.

Israel reported 9,997 new cases – its highest in a single 24 hours – and 46 deaths on Tuesday, after recording a record 67 deaths on Monday.

Like many countries, Israel faces a second wave of the virus in winter after the rate of new infections and associated deaths fell in November.

On January 5, the government announced a full two-week nationwide lockdown, effective January 7. The lockdown will expire at the end of the month, but it will be almost certain to be extended as new cases and deaths continue to rise.