Less than 0.01 percent of people who got the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine contracted the bug more than a week after getting their second shot.
Preliminary results shared by leading Israeli health care provider Maccabi showed that only 20 of the 128,600 people who received both injections have since been infected with the virus, Reuters reported.
The data was released during a nationwide lockdown that helped stop the contamination in Israel, where people began receiving the first shots of Pfizer’s jab on Dec. 19.
“According to Maccabi experts, this is preliminary data, but the numbers are very encouraging,” Maccabi said in a statement.
Maccabi reports that of 20 people infected, 50% suffer from chronic diseases. All patients experienced mild illness with symptoms such as headache, cough, weakness or fatigue. No one was hospitalized or had a fever above 38.5 ° C. Most patients tested for COVID-19 as a result of exposure to a verified patient, ”it added.
Israel provides Pfizer weekly updates on its vaccination campaign under an agreement that can help other countries refine their own vaccination efforts.
Maccabi official Anat Ekka Zohar said, “The fact that the infected patients came from different profiles is consistent with Pfizer’s research results.”
“We will monitor these patients closely to see if they continue to have only mild symptoms and not develop complications from the virus,” she added.
More than 2.6 million Israelis have received a single dose of the shot and approximately 1.2 million have received both, out of a population of about 9 million.
The country reported about 600,000 cases and 4,478 deaths during the pandemic.