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Israel’s rapid vaccination effort provides important information about the COVID-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
Journalists from the Reuters news agency spoke to prominent scientists in Israel and elsewhere, Israeli health officials, hospital heads and two of the country’s largest healthcare providers. The aim was to find the latest information on the country’s particularly rapid vaccination campaign.
About 3.5 million Israelis have been fully or partially immunized. That’s more than half of people who belong to groups that are supposed to get vaccinated first. These groups show a sharp decline in infections.
Eran Segal is a data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Rehovot, Israel. He said there was a 53 percent reduction in new cases in the first fully vaccinated group. In addition, there were 39% fewer hospitalizations and a 31% drop in critical illness between mid-January and February 6, Segal said.
More information will be known in two weeks, as teams will study the vaccine’s effectiveness in younger groups of Israelis and people with certain conditions.
“We must have enough variety people in that subgroup and enough follow-up time for you to do the right thing conclusions, and we’re getting to this point, ”said Ran Balicer. He is an official of the Israeli health service provider Clalit.
Pfizer monitors the Israeli effort weekly to learn more about the vaccine and how it works.
The Israeli campaign offers Pfizer and its partner, Germany BioNTech, an unusual opportunity. The small country has healthcare for all of its citizens and the ability to collect and study data. Israel also quickly provided the vaccine to its citizens.
Israel still faces challenges in its efforts to fight the virus. The third national of the country confinement has not slowed the spread of COVID-19. Rapid dissemination variant of the virus that was first discovered in Britain is now spreading to Israel. So far, Pfizer / BioNTech’s shot appears to be working against him.
“We have so far identified the same 90-95% effectiveness against the British strainHezi Levi said. He is director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses, or injections, to be effective. Because of this, Levi said it was too early to know the levels of protection, as many people didn’t get the second dose until last week. He added that it is still too early to know whether the vaccine is effective against another rapidly spreading viral variant that has started in South Africa.
Good results so far
Israel began its vaccination program on December 19. He paid a high price for the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine supply.
Four days later, the rapidly spreading British variant was found in four people in Israel.
After that, Israel decided to start giving vaccines to people over the age of 60. Over time, he opened up the program to the rest of the population.
Information gathered by Israeli health care provider Maccabi shows that only six in 10,000 people were infected with COVID-19 a week after receiving their second dose of Pfizer. 22 days after complete vaccination, no infection was recorded.
Pfizer says that its vaccine’s effectiveness begins a week after the second dose is given.
An important question is whether vaccines can end the pandemic. Michal Linial is professor of molecular biology and bioinformatics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. According to her, data from the past suggests that viruses are becoming endemic and seasonal.
She predicted the coronavirus would become much less aggressive, possibly requiring an additional hit within three years.
She added: “The virus is not going anywhere.”
I am Mario Ritter Jr.
Maayan Lubell and Ari Rabinovitch reported this story to Reuters. Mario Ritter Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in this story
variety -NOT. a number or collection of different things or people
conclusion -NOT. a final opinion or judgment
strain -NOT. a group of closely related living beings
dose -NOT. how much medicine or vaccine is needed to cure or help a disease
contagious –Adj. can be transmitted from one person or animal to another
endemic -NOT. common to a place
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