Israel’s rapid vaccination effort provides important information about the COVID-19 vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
Reporters from the Reuters news agency spoke with leading scientists in Israel and elsewhere, Israeli health officials, hospital heads and two of the country’s largest healthcare providers. The aim was to find the latest information about the country’s particularly rapid vaccination campaign.
About 3.5 million Israelis have been fully or partially vaccinated. That’s more than half of the people in groups expected to get vaccinated first. These groups show a sharp decrease in the number of infections.
Eran Segal is a data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. He said there was a 53 percent reduction in new cases in the first fully vaccinated group. In addition, there were 39 percent fewer hospitalizations and a 31 percent drop in serious illness from mid-January to February 6, Segal said.
More information will be out in two weeks as teams study the vaccine’s effectiveness in younger groups of Israelis and those with certain conditions.
‘We must have enough variety of people in that subgroup and enough follow-up time for you to make it right conclusions, and we get to that point, ”said Ran Balicer. He is an official with the Israeli health care provider Clalit.
Pfizer monitors Israeli efforts every week to learn more about the vaccine and how it works.
The Israeli campaign offers Pfizer and its partner, Germany’s BioNTech, an unusual opportunity. The small country has health care for all of its citizens and the ability to collect and study data. Israel has also been quick to provide the vaccine to its citizens.
Israel is still struggling to fight the virus. The country’s third citizen Lockdown has not slowed the spread of COVID-19. A rapid spread variant of the virus first found in Britain is now spreading in Israel. So far, Pfizer / BioNTech’s shot appears to be effective against it.
“We have found the same effectiveness of 90 to 95 percent against the British so far tribe, ”Said Hezi Levi. He is a Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Health.
The Pfizer vaccine needs two doses or injections to be effective. For this reason, Levi said it is too early to know the levels of protection, as many people have only received the second dose in the past week. He added that it is too early to know if the vaccine is effective against another fast-spreading virus variant that started in South Africa.
Good results so far
Israel began its vaccination program on December 19. It paid a heavy price for the supply of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
Four days later, the rapidly spreading British variety was found in four people in Israel.
After that, Israel decided to start giving injections to people over 60 years old. Over time, it has opened up the program to the rest of the population.
Information gathered by Israeli health care provider Maccabi shows that only six in 10,000 people became infected with COVID-19 a week after receiving their second dose of Pfizer. No infections were recorded 22 days after complete vaccination.
Pfizer says the vaccine’s effectiveness starts a week after the second dose is given.
An important question is whether vaccines can end the pandemic. Michal Linial is a professor of molecular biology and bioinformatics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She said past data suggests viruses become viruses endemic and seasonal.
She predicted that the coronavirus would become much less aggressive, possibly requiring an additional injection within three years.
She added, “The virus isn’t going anywhere.”
I am Mario Ritter Jr.
Maayan Lubell and Ari Rabinovitch reported this story to Reuters. Mario Ritter Jr. has adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
Words in this story
variety –N. a number or a collection of different things or people
inference –N. a final opinion or judgment
tribe –N. a group of closely related living things
dose –N. the amount of medicine or vaccine needed to cure or help a condition
contagious –Adj. can be transferred from one person or animal to another
endemic –N. common for a place
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the comments section and visit our Facebook page