They reveal that the South African variant is resistant to …

A study by Israeli scientists showed that the South African variant of the coronavirus was resistant to the Pfizer vaccine, although the degree of resistance remains to be known

The research, conducted by scientists from Israel’s leading mutual health organization, Clalit, and Tel Aviv University, was based on a sample of around 800 people and it has been identified that the percentage of cases of South African strain compared to the British was significantly higher in people who received both doses of Pfizer vaccine compared to those who received only one.

The study, which does not yet have peer review, indicates that of patients infected within 14 days of receiving the first dose of the vaccine, less than 0.5% had contracted the South African strain of coronavirus. This figure was almost identical when analyzing a control group, made up of the same number of patients, of similar ages and who had not received the vaccine.

In addition, the researchers found that among those who had been infected with COVID-19 two weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the percentage of patients carrying the South African strain was 5.4%, while that of the control group of unvaccinated people, the percentage was 0.7 percent.

“This means that the South African variant has the ability, to some extent, to penetrate the protection of the vaccine.”said Adi Stern, professor at Tel Aviv University’s School of Biomedicine and one of the study’s authors.

The researchers noted, however, that these results do not make it possible to specify to what extent the South African variant is resistant to the vaccine and they further pointed out that this strain accounts for only 1 percent of cases in Israel, where the study was carried out.

“It is true that vaccinated people are less protected against the South African variant, but the small number of cases of this strain in the country shows that the vaccine protects them.”Nadav Davidovitch, director of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University and government advisor on pandemic management, explained to Efe.

According to Davidovitch, while these results are significant and should be the basis for further study, this study does not contradict Pfizer’s evidence for the vaccine’s efficacy against this strain.