First results on Pfizer vaccine are encouraging: Israeli HMO



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Less than 0.01% of people who received Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine contracted the virus more than a week after receiving their second vaccine.

Preliminary results shared by leading Israeli health care provider Maccabi showed that only 20 of the 128,600 people who received both vaccines have since been infected with the virus, Reuters reported.

The data was released during a nationwide lockdown that helped stem the contagion in Israel, where people began receiving the first images of Pfizer’s coup on December 19.

“According to Maccabi experts, this is preliminary data, but the numbers are very encouraging,” Maccabi said in a statement.

“Maccabi reports that of the 20 people infected, 50% suffer from chronic diseases. All the patients presented mild illness with symptoms such as headache, cough, weakness or fatigue. No one has been hospitalized or suffered from a fever above 38.5 ° C. Most of the patients have been tested for COVID-19 due to exposure to a verified patient, ”he said. he adds.

Israel is providing Pfizer with weekly updates on its inoculation campaign as part of a deal that could help other countries refine their own vaccination efforts.

A boy receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at Clalit Health Services in Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on January 23, 2021.
A boy receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at Clalit Health Services in Israel’s Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on January 23, 2021.
JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images

Maccabi manager Anat Ekka Zohar said that “the fact that the infected patients came from different profiles is consistent with the results of Pfizer’s trial.

“We will be monitoring these patients closely to determine if they continue to have only mild symptoms and if they do not develop complications from the virus,” she added.

An Israeli receives the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a coronavirus vaccination center in Tel Aviv on January 25, 2021.
An Israeli receives the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a coronavirus vaccination center in Tel Aviv on January 25, 2021.
Photo AP / Oded Balilty

More than 2.6 million Israelis have received a single dose of the vaccine and about 1.2 million have received both, out of a population of around 9 million.

The country has reported around 600,000 cases and 4,478 deaths during the pandemic.

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