Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday morning that real-world tests by the Israeli Ministry of Health show that there have been “dramatically” fewer cases of Covid-19 and deaths among people in Israel who have been completely vaccinated. with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine compared to those who have not been vaccinated.
The latest analysis by the Israeli Ministry of Health is based on data collected between January 17 and March 6, according to the announcement. During this time, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was the only Covid-19 vaccine available in the country and the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the UK, was dominant.
According to the announcement by Pfizer and BioNTech, the latest analysis by the Israeli Ministry of Health shows that two weeks after the second dose, the effectiveness of the vaccine was at least 97% in the prevention of symptomatic illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths. The analysis also found that the vaccine was 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic Covid-19, where the infections show no symptoms.
“We are very encouraged that real-world efficacy data from Israel confirm the high efficacy demonstrated in our Phase 3 clinical trial and show the significant impact of the vaccine on the prevention of serious illness and death by COVID-19, ”Luis Jodar said in the announcement, senior vice president and chief physician of Pfizer Vaccines.
“Findings suggesting that the vaccine may also provide protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections are particularly significant, as we try to stop the spread of the virus around the world,” Jodar said.
SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus that causes Covid-19.
The announcement comes about two weeks after a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the risk of symptomatic Covid-19, that is, people infected with the coronavirus and feeling sick, decreased a 94% among those who received two doses of the vaccine. Even before the second dose, the effectiveness of the vaccine was close to 60%.
“This clearly demonstrates the power of the COVID-19 vaccine to fight this virus and encourages us to continue even more intensely with our vaccination campaign. Our goal is to achieve an even higher uptake in people of all ages, which it gives us hope to restore economic normalcy and social function in the not-so-distant future, ”said Yeheskel Levy, director of the Israeli Ministry of Health.
“When we started our development last year in January, our goal was to make a difference for people around the world and help end this pandemic,” Dr. Ugur Sahin, co-founder, said in the announcement. and CEO of BioNTech. “A year after the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO, we now see that we are on the right track to achieving our goals.”
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said Israeli data showing that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine prevents asymptomatic infection and death is a message of hope a year after the declaration of a pandemic.
“I think it’s a great opportunity that on this day of the first anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic we have a message of hope,” Bourla told Meg Tirrell of CNBC on Squawk Box.
Bourla explained that the data comes from a country where more than 55% of the total population has been vaccinated.
The effectiveness so far in Israel is 97%, and it says that “all three measures, minor illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths are north of 97% in real-world effectiveness with millions vaccinated.”
He said perhaps most important of all it seemed to be 94% effective against asymptomatic transmission.
Bourla said this is important to society, “because asymptomatic carriers, asymptomatic patients are the ones who are spreading the disease primarily.”
“This is the first time we have arrived with the confirmation of a real-world study of evidence of this magnitude,” he said.