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