Israeli national data on the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were presented Wednesday in the scientific journal The scalpel. The article explains that two doses of this vaccine provide more than 95% protection against infection with the Coronavirus, hospitalization, serious illness and death, including the elderly. This is the first nationwide study to provide data on vaccine efficacy.
To assess the effectiveness of this study, national pandemic monitoring data from the Israeli Ministry of Health was used during the first four months of the coronavirus vaccination in the country. The vaccination campaign began at a time when many infections appeared in the country, which led to a national isolation on December 27. On January 20, 2021, daily infections peaked at 10,213. On March 7, imprisonment was lifted, and on April 3, 72% of people over 16 and 90% of people over 65 received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a statement about the work.
“So far, no country in the world has described a public health impact A national vaccination campaignSharon says he did not communicate Irrigation price, From the Israeli Ministry of Health and Coordinator search. “These results are very important because although we still have some big challenges ahead, they give us real hope that vaccination will lead us to bring us under control of the epidemic.”
Against the constant and rapid supply of vaccines, Israel paid dearly for Pfizer vaccines and struck a deal to provide data on its patients To the multinational pharmaceutical company, which has raised questions about the privacy of Israelis.
The study now reveals that The vaccine is “very effective” against Covid-19 In all people over 16 years of age, it gives 95.3% protection against infection and 96.7% against death seven days after taking the second dose. Protection against symptomatic and asymptomatic infection was 97% and 91.5%, respectively.
The vaccine was also effective in preventing hospitalization and critical illness, providing 97.2% protection against hospitalization in general, and 97.5% against severe hospitalizations. After 14 days of taking the second dose, protection increased: 96.5% protection against infection, 98% against hospitalization, and 98.1% against death had ended.
Both young and old are protected by the vaccine. In subjects over the age of 85, they had 94.1% protection against infection, 96.9% against hospitalization and 97% against death seven days after taking the second dose. People between the ages of 16 and 44 have 96.1% protection against infection, 98.1% against hospitalization and 100% against death.
As expected, protection was between seven and 14 days after receiving only the first dose of the vaccine. Here, there was 57.7% protection against infection, 75.7% against hospitalization and 77% against death. The study authors caution that little is known about the duration of protection for the first dose and that the period of protection may be shorter, especially when new variants of concern continue to emerge.
During the study period, Israel recorded 232,268 cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Two-thirds of the cases were in people over the age of 16 and there were 7,694 hospitalizations and 1,133 deaths. The predominant variable was the one initially identified in the UK (line B.1.1.7) and is estimated to account for over 90% of cases in Israel.
Recently, the variant that was first found in South Africa (strain B.1.351) was detected in the country, but it is not yet possible to estimate the vaccination efficacy of this variant due to the limited number of cases. Therefore, further investigations should be undertaken with this variant.
The team stressed in a statement The results are “encouraging”But there are many issues and challenges ahead. And they warn that the duration of virus immunity (whether from natural infection with the vaccine) is still unknown, and “it is possible that new variants and vaccine resistance will appear in the future.”
Commenting on the study is also in the journal The scalpelEyal Leshem (of the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Israel) and Annelies Wilder Smith (of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) note that the results “indicate that higher vaccination coverage rates may provide a way out of the epidemic.” However, those scholars who were not involved in the study warn that many countries are unable to vaccinate their residents the same way Israel is. “The global use of the BNT162b2 vaccine is limited due to supply issues, high costs, and the requirements of an ultra-cold storage network.”
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