COVID-19 pandemic: Pfizer vaccine proves 92% effective in Israel, reveal trial results

(Karachi) Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is showing 92 percent effectiveness in Israel, a report published in Times of Israel revealed.

As per details, vaccine statistics analyst, Anat Ekka Zoharonly, said that 31 out of 163,000 Israelis vaccinated by Maccabi Healthcare Services are diagnosed with COVID-19 in their first 10 days of full-strength protection.

Maccabi transpired that an equivalent sample of unvaccinated Israelis is 11 times more likely to be diagnosed with the coronavirus, which allowed it to calculate the effectiveness rate.

“This is very, very good news,” Ekka Zohar said. “It is the first study in the world that looks at such a large number of fully vaccinated patients.”

Zohar said she is encouraged by the light symptoms of vaccinated people who caught the coronavirus, as well as by the low infection rates. “None have been hospitalized and they have very very light symptoms,” she stated.

“We are talking about headache and a mild feeling of sickness, and they are almost completely without fever. It’s really a very light illness.”

Commenting on the matter, Prof. Eyal Leshem, infectious diseases specialist at Sheba Medical Center, said that people should be excited by the strong result, and not concerned by the three percent shortfall.

He said, “This is a very high figure, well within the standard deviation we would expect.”

The vaccine made by Pfizer appears to retain its effectiveness against coronavirus mutations in worrying new variants that have emerged recently in Britain and South Africa, the firm had said.

Several new variants -- each with a cluster of genetic mutations -- have sparked fears over an increase in infectiousness as well as suggestions that the virus could begin to elude immune response, whether from prior infection or a vaccine.

Pfizer, which had previously said it was unlikely that the strain originally found in Britain could escape vaccine protection, stated that early tests suggest their immunisation would be similarly protective against the variant in South Africa.

The company said these preliminary findings "do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to address the emerging variants".

Pfizer maintained it is prepared to respond if a new strain is shown to be able to evade the immunity of the vaccine, adding that they can produce updates to their jab if needed.