New data on the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, gathered by Israel’s Ministry of Health, revealed promising signs in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 without symptoms.
The latest analysis, published on Thursday, found that after two weeks from receiving the second dose of the vaccine, it is 97% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 cases and is 94% effective against infection without symptoms.
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The data, which have yet to be peer-reviewed, also showed that unvaccinated individuals were 44 times more likely to develop a symptomatic version of the virus and are nearly 30 times more likely to die from the virus.
“We are extremely encouraged that the real-world effectiveness data coming from Israel are confirming the high efficacy demonstrated in our Phase 3 clinical trial and showing the significant impact of the vaccine in preventing severe disease and deaths due to COVID-19,” Luis Jodar, senior vice president and chief medical officer for Pfizer vaccines, said. “The findings which suggest that the vaccine may also provide protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections are particularly meaningful as we look to disrupt the spread of the virus around the globe. Altogether, these data are critical to understanding the role of vaccination in combatting the pandemic and provide hope to other countries dealing with this devastating disease, which has now afflicted the world for more than a year.”
The data was collected between Jan. 17 and March 6, during which time the Pfizer vaccine was the only one available in Israel. Slightly fewer than 6.5 million people 16 years or older in Israel have received the vaccine, representing 71% of the population.
“Incidence rates in the fully vaccinated population have massively dropped compared to the unvaccinated population, showing a marked decline in hospitalized cases due to COVID-19,” professor Yeheskel Levy, Israel Ministry of Health director, said. “This clearly demonstrates the power of the COVID-19 vaccine to fight this virus and encourages us to continue even more intensively with our vaccination campaign. We aim to achieve even higher uptake in people of all ages, which gives us hope of regaining normal economic and social function in the not so distant future.”
The study also provided insights into the Pfizer vaccine’s effectiveness at combating the different variants of the virus. Eighty percent of the cases were the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom. However, the study could not determine whether it was effective against the variant found in South Africa as there were too few cases of it discovered in Israel at the time of the study.
The data release came the same day four of the five living former U.S. presidents were featured in the first of multiple public service announcements encouraging people to get the vaccine.
In the United States, there are three vaccines available — Pfizer, another developed by Moderna, and a third created by Johnson & Johnson, the only one-shot vaccine as opposed to the others, which require two doses.
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There have been more than 118 million COVID-19 diagnoses worldwide, and nearly a quarter of them are within the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker. The global death toll exceeds 2.6 million people.