Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday morning that real-world evidence from the Israeli Ministry of Health shows there have been “dramatically” fewer Covid-19 cases and deaths among people in Israel who have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer / BioNTech. vaccine compared to those who have not been vaccinated.
The latest analysis by the Israeli Ministry of Health, according to the announcement, is based on data collected between January 17 and March 6. During that 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 preventing symptomatic illness, hospitalization and death. The analysis also found that the vaccine effectiveness was 94% in preventing asymptomatic Covid-19, with infections showing no symptoms
“We are extremely encouraged that the actual effectiveness data coming from Israel confirms the high efficacy demonstrated in our Phase 3 clinical trial and the significant impact of the vaccine in preventing serious illness and death from COVID. -19, ”Luis Jodar, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Pfizer Vaccines, said in the announcement.
“The findings suggesting that the vaccine may also protect against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections are particularly meaningful as we try to disrupt the spread of the virus around the world,” said Jodar.
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 by 94% among those those two doses of the vaccine. Even before the second dose, the vaccine effectiveness approached 60%.
“This clearly demonstrates the power of the COVID-19 vaccine to combat this virus and encourages us to continue our vaccination campaign even more intensively. returns to normal economic and social function in the not-so-distant future, ”Yeheskel Levy, director of the Israeli Ministry of Health said in the announcement.
“When we started development in January last year, our goal was to make a difference for people around the world and end this pandemic,” said Dr. Ugur Sahin, Co-Founder and CEO of BioNTech, in the announcement. “A year after the WHO declared a pandemic, we now see that we are on track to achieve our goals.”
Albert Bourla, Pfizer CEO, said data from Israel showing the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine prevents asymptomatic infection and that death is a message of hope a year after the announcement of a pandemic.
“It’s a great opportunity, I think, that on this day of the first anniversary of a pandemic declaration, we have a message of hope,” Bourla told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell on Squawk Box.
Bourla explained that the data comes from a country where more than 55% of the total population has been vaccinated.
The efficacy so far in Israel is 97%, saying “all three measures, mild disease, hospitalizations and deaths, are north of 97% in actual effectiveness with millions of people vaccinated.”
Perhaps most importantly, he said, it was found to be 94% effective against asymptomatic transmission.
Bourla said this is important to society, “because the asymptomatic carriers, the asymptomatic patients are the ones who mainly spread the disease.”
“This is the first time we’ve come up with a confirmation of a real-world evidence study of that magnitude,” he said.