A recent study by Israel’s largest healthcare provider found that, after both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, people are 94% less likely to have symptomatic COVID-19 infections and 92% fewer cases of disease. severe due to the virus, reports Reuters.
Why does it matter: Israel has rapidly vaccinated its population, and the new study highlights how effective the vaccine is, as the data closely match the Pfizer phase three clinical trial, which showed that the vaccine is 95% effective.
Where is it: According to Reuters, Clalit, the health system that covers most Israelis, compared 600,000 people who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine against a group of the same size, with a corresponding medical history who had not yet received the vaccine.
- Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have reported a decrease in hospitalization and serious illness in people aged 55 and over.
- “It shows unequivocally that the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is extremely effective in the real world one week after the second dose, just as it was found in the clinical trial,” said Ran Balicer, director of innovation at Clalit.
- The data also indicate that the Pfizer vaccine is “even more effective two weeks or more after the second shot.”