Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
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Israel’s world-leading campaign to vaccinate its citizens is beginning to control the disease, according to the country’s second largest health care network.
The Maccabi Health Services studied a sample group of 50,777 people over the age of 60 inoculated in late December and again in mid-January. Raw data showed that two days after the second injection, the number of new infections and hospitalizations dropped about 60% from the peak, the researchers reported.
Trends began to change about two weeks from the first dose, according to analysis by Maccabi’s KSM Research and Innovation Center, in collaboration with Israeli computer health researchers KI Institute.
Shooting Change
Israeli analysis shows Pfizer vaccine reducing positive virus cases
Source: Maccabi Research and Innovation Center
Another Israeli study of healthcare workers who received two doses of the injection from Pfizer Inc. found high levels of antibodies in almost all participants who matched or exceeded clinical results.
Israeli study of Pfizer injection finds high levels of antibodies (1)
Israel has used the Pfizer vaccine extensively since it began its immunization campaign in late December, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offering campaign data to streamline and expand shipments. The country has adhered to Pfizer’s guidance of a second injection about three weeks after the first, reserving the second doses.
Read more: Electoral pressure in Israel helps to speed up the vaccination process
So far, about 2.5 million people, or more than a quarter of the population, have received the first dose, with almost a million more receiving the second. Children under the age of 16, who have not been approved for the vaccine, represent about 30% of the country’s 9.3 million inhabitants.
The country is currently in the middle of a third blockade that began in late December to control the resurgence of the outbreak. In total, Israel had almost 600,000 cases and more than 4,360 deaths.
More than 63 million shots fired: Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker