An extensive real-world study of half a million people has revealed that the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is 94% effective.
The document 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 shots of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine reduced symptomatic cases of COVID-19 by 94% in all age groups, while a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks.
The vaccine also showed 92% effectiveness in preventing serious illness after two shots and 62% after one, according to the study reviewed by experts.
The results of the study came close to those of last year’s clinical trials for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which found that two doses were 95% effective.
He showed that there could be a strong protective benefit against infection, a factor that is considered crucial for breaking down subsequent transmission.
How was the study conducted?
The study was led by researchers from the Clalit Research Institute and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, along with Harvard University in the United States.
The research was conducted between December 20, 2020 and February 1, 2021, when the British variant of the coronavirus spread to Israel.
The study compared nearly 600,000 people 16 years of age or older from Israel’s largest healthcare organization who received doses of Pfizer-BioNTech in December or January with an equal number of people of age, sex, and health. similar 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 the AFP news agency that the concordance process was very robust.
Results were recorded on days 14–20 after the first shot and on day seven or later after the second.
Researchers are “surprised” by the results
The study’s lead author, 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 world context, where the cold chain is not maintained perfectly and the population is older and sicker, you will not get the good results you get in controlled clinical trials,” Balicer said. . Reuters news agency.
“We have shown that the vaccine is so effective in very different subgroups, in the young and the old in those who have no morbidities and in those with few comorbidities,” he added.
dvv / rs (AFP, AP, Reuters)