Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was 93% effective in protecting against COVID-19, a leading Israeli health provider announced Thursday.
The results seem to show the injection working as expected in a large sample of people, raising hopes that the distribution of vaccines worldwide will be successful.
Maccabi Healthcare Services said it immunized some 520,000 people with the two necessary doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
He found that only 544 people had contracted the coronavirus seven days or more after receiving the second dose.
Fifteen people were hospitalized and four people had serious illnesses, but no one died, said Maccabi, according to the Times of Israel.
Maccabi said he reached 93% when comparing the vaccinated group to a large control group of unvaccinated people.
The age range of those immunized was unclear in the Times of Israel report. Clearly, if there were not so many elderly people – who are more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 – in the sample, the finding would be less significant.
“These data prove unequivocally that the vaccine is very effective and we have no doubt that it saved the lives of many Israelis,” said Dr. Miri Mizrahi Reuveni, a senior Maccabi official, according to the Times of Israel report.
More than 700,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Israel and more than 5,000 deaths have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The Pfizer vaccine was found to be 95% effective in protecting against symptomatic coronavirus in clinical trials. Israel is the best example so far of its performance in the real world, since its vaccination campaign started early and has reached more than a quarter of its population.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has promised that the entire country will be fully immunized by March.
Israel secured eight million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and six million advance deals from Moderna, reportedly paying double the rate of European countries to ensure a reliable supply.
More than 2.3 million Israelis have been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University – about 27% of its population of 9 million people, more than anywhere else in the world.
Pfizer is monitoring the Israeli launch on a weekly basis for insights to use worldwide, including whether it works against more infectious variants, Reuters reported.
So far, it has been shown to work against the variant first identified in the UK, but it is less clear for the variant found in South Africa.
“So far, we have identified the same 90% to 95% effectiveness against the British strain,” Hezi Levi, director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health, told Reuters. “It is too early to say anything about the South African variant.”
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