A single dose of Pfizer vaccine may be less effective than indicated by the drug maker, warned Tsar COVID-19 of Israel.
Nachman Ash – Israel’s equivalent to Dr. Anthony Fauci – said the protection offered by the first dose is “less effective than we had thought,” Army Radio reported.
“Many people have become infected between the first and second injection of the vaccine,” Ash said, adding that the protective effect seems “less than [the data] presented by Pfizer “.
The pharmaceutical giant has claimed that tests show it is about 52 per cent effective within 12 days of receiving the first shot, the BBC reported.
But this level of protection increases to 95% about two weeks after the second dose.
It is not clear exactly how effective the shooting has been for the more than 2 million Israelis who have already received the first dose.
Questions about vaccine performance were raised after health officials announced 10,000 new cases on Monday, the highest since the pandemic began.
Experts have repeatedly warned that a dose of the vaccine does not provide complete immunity and that social distancing measures will still need to be implemented to control the pandemic.