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Israel has seen a 60% drop in hospitalizations for people aged 60 and over within three weeks of the first injection of the Pfizer vaccine, an Israeli health care provider has shown, and only 0.015% of people have been infected by the coronavirus within a week of receiving their second stroke.
Israeli health services Maccabi, one of the country’s four HMOs, said on Monday that of 128,600 people who received the second vaccine a week ago, only 20 had contracted the coronavirus – correlating with 95% effectiveness demonstrated in Pfizer’s own clinical trials.
The HMO further revealed that hospital admissions began to decline dramatically among those over 60 18 days after receiving the first vaccine. Maccabi has followed more than 50,000 members.
“This is very important data,” said the infectious disease manager at Israel’s largest hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Galia Rahav, who is not linked to the study. The Times of Israel. “This has an impact, because amid the high infection rates and the spread of variants, it’s hard to see from general numbers how vaccination is influencing things.
“By providing an overview of hospitalizations only among vaccinated elderly people, these data are invaluable.”
The same HMO revealed data earlier this month that showed a 60% reduction in coronavirus infections three weeks after the first stroke.
Among the general population, about 0.65% are infected in any given week, The Times of Israel reported citing a senior immunologist, in stark contrast to the 0.015% infected after being fully vaccinated.
The report points out, however, that Maccabi does not have a control group.
“While these are impressive results, it is important to say that there is no direct control group or data on the demographics and geography of those vaccinated,” said immunologist Cyrille Cohen, the newspaper.
Anat Ekka Zohar, the Maccabi analyst behind the research, said the excellent results could even prove that “the vaccine is more effective than Pfizer thought based on clinical trials.”
“Although this is very early data, it is important data of great relevance, as the whole world is looking to Israel for indications on the performance of the vaccine,” she said.
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