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A large-scale Israeli study highlighted the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine prevent symptomatic infections with coronavirus. Clalit, the largest of Israel’s four healthcare providers, published a study on Sunday comparing the infections of 600,000 Israelis who had received the vaccine with 600,000 unvaccinated.
The study found a 94% drop in symptomatic infections and a 92% drop in severe cases of the disease among those vaccinated. He said that “the efficacy of the vaccine is preserved in every age group”, especially one week after the second dose of the vaccine.
The researchers said the preliminary results of the ongoing research “are intended to emphasize to the population who have not yet vaccinated that the vaccine is very effective and prevents serious illness.”
Israel launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign in December. Since then, more than a quarter of the population – 2.5 million people – has received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and more than 42% have received the first vaccine, according to the Department of Health.
The country of 9 million people, which is currently easing restrictions on its third national lockdown, aims to vaccinate all people over the age of 16 by the end of March.
“The release of preliminary results at this point is intended to emphasize to the unvaccinated population that the vaccine is very effective and prevents severe morbidity,” Clalit said Sunday.
He added that the study covered people who received the second vaccine at least seven days before the test and would be expanded in the future.
“With each additional week that passes, we will be able to make the assessment more accurate.”
The precision would improve as subjects were tested after 14 days or more from the second dose, he said.
AFP contributed to this report.
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