- A study that included 1.2 million people in Israel, half of whom were completely vaccinated with the drug Pfizer / BioNTech, shows that the vaccine is highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19.
- The researchers also learned that the vaccine offers excellent protection against severe COVID-19, hospitalization, and death, even after a single dose.
- The study was conducted in the first phase of vaccinations in Israel, a period during which the B.1.1.7 mutation became dominant in the country.
Candidates for the coronavirus vaccine have been in use for more than two months in several regions of the world, including North America, the European Union, and Israel. More than 227.6 million people received at least one dose of vaccine on Friday morning and more than 46 million got the full two-dose regimen. Of all the countries that launched vaccination campaigns as soon as the first candidates were authorized for emergency use, Israel has been the most advanced. The nation has already vaccinated 53.7% of its population with at least one dose, which translates to 4.65 million people. What is even more impressive is that 37.8% of Israel’s population has already received both doses, or 3.27 million people. This gives Israel a huge advantage over everyone else, and the country is likely to be the first to achieve herd immunity.
Israel’s accelerated vaccination program also allowed the country’s scientists to conduct the world’s most extensive vaccine study to date. It was observed that more than one million people measured the effectiveness of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in Israel, far exceeding the scope of the phase 3 trials. The good news is that the findings matched the findings of Pfizer and BioNTech, which provide additional insight into the benefits of the drug. Most interestingly, the study was conducted just when the UK mutation (B.1.1.7) became dominant in Israel.
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The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was 92% effective in preventing serious illness after the full two-dose regimen. The researchers also measured efficacy after the first dose, finding that the drug was 62% effective in preventing severe COVID-19. Similarly, a single dose was sufficient to prevent deaths from COVID-19 two or three weeks after the first stroke with 72% efficacy.
The vaccine was 57% effective in preventing COVID-19 symptoms two or three weeks after the first dose and 94% a week or more after the second dose. The phase 3 trial that included 30,000 volunteers showed that the drug was 95% effective.
The efficacy in hospitalization prevention was 74% after a dose and 87% after complete treatment. When it came to preventing confirmed infections, the efficacy was 46% and 92%, respectively. The study was unable to determine whether the vaccine can prevent the spread of the virus, although reducing the number of infections gave researchers hope that could be the case.
The researchers found that the drug worked so well in young people and in people over 70 years of age. In total, 41 people died from complications of COVID-19, but only nine were part of the vaccine group.
The Clalit Research Institute and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel worked on the study with Harvard University. They include 600,000 people over the age of 16 vaccinated in December and January, compared to an equal number of people who did not receive the vaccine. None of these participants had tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the study.
“This is immensely reassuring … better than I would have guessed,” said Dr. Gregory Poland of Dr. Mayo Clinic Associated press. “Even after a dose, we can see a very high effectiveness in preventing death,” Dr. Buddy Creech, Dr. Neither doctor participated in the Israeli study.
The two doctors agreed that the study provides more evidence that helps delay the second dose so that more people can receive some protection from the first shot. Some countries have already changed the vaccination protocol in early 2021. The UK postponed the second shot for up to 12 weeks to cover more people. Pfizer / BioNTech doses are administered at three weeks of intervention, according to the Phase 3 trial protocol.
Another idea to stretch the offer is to give COVID-19 survivors just one dose instead of two. France is already doing so, the report notes. At least four studies have concluded that a single dose is sufficient to increase the immune response in COVID-19 survivors at the same level as two doses.
Another important advantage of the study is that it was conducted when variant B.1.1.7 became dominant in Israel. Therefore, the various levels of efficacy observed by the researchers indicate that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine works well against this particular strain. The study could also help influence people who are not determined to inoculate, as one story often cited by people who doubt the vaccine is that phase 3 trials were limited. The trial in Israel has just addressed these concerns, given their breadth of scope.
The full study is available at this link.
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Chris Smith began writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it, he was sharing his views on technological things with readers around the world. Whenever he doesn’t write about gadgets, he fails to stay away from them, even though he tries desperately. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.