A large real-world study involving half a million people found that the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is 94% effective.
The paper was published in New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday and involved the study of 1.2 million people during Israel’s mass inoculation campaign.
What did the study reveal?
The study showed that two photos of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine reduced symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 94% in all age groups, while a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks.
The vaccine was also 92% effective in preventing severe disease after two vaccines and 62% after one, the study evaluated by colleagues found.
The results of the study were close to those in last year’s clinical trials for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which found that two doses are 95% effective.
He pointed out that there could be a strong benefit of protection against infection, a factor that is considered crucial in stopping transmission.
How was the study conducted?
The study was conducted by researchers at the Clalit Research Institute and Ben-Gurion University in the Negev in Israel, along with Harvard University in the United States.
The research was conducted between December 20, 2020 – February 1, 2021, when the British version of the coronavirus spread to Israel.
The study compared nearly 600,000 people aged 16 and over in Israel’s largest health care organization who received Pfizer-BioNTech doses in December or January with an equal number of people of all ages, genders and similar health who did not receive the shot.
None of the participants had contracted the virus in the past.
Lead author Noam Barda, head of epidemiology and research at the Clalit Research Institute, told AFP that the matching process was extremely robust.
The results were then recorded on days 14-20 after the first shot and on day seven or later after the second.
Researchers “surprised” by the results
Lead author of the study, Ran Balicer, said the results showed that the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine is “extremely effective in the real world” after the second dose.
“We were surprised because we expected that, in the real context, in which the cold chain is not maintained perfectly and the population is older and sicker, that you will not get as good results as you obtained in your studies. controlled clinics, ”Balicer told Reuters.
“We have shown that the vaccine is just as effective in very different subgroups, in young people and the elderly in those without comorbidities and those with few comorbidities,” he added.
dvv / rs (AFP, AP, Reuters)