The Israeli vaccination campaign greatly reduced infections and severe cases of Covid-19

The rapid deployment of vaccination campaign in Israel has made the country the largest field trial of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine. The results are coming, and they are very promising.

More than half of eligible Israelis – about 3.5 million people – have been fully or partially vaccinated. The oldest age groups and those at risk, the first to be vaccinated, are experiencing a drastic drop in the number of patients.

There was one among the first fully vaccinated group 53% reduction in new cases, 39% in hospital admissions and 31% in serious illnesses from mid-January to February 6, said Eran Segal, a data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Rehovot, Israel.

Over the same period, people under 60 who were vaccinated after the first group fell by 20%, but the number of hospitalizations and serious illnesses increased by 15% and 29%, respectively.

Reuters interviewed leading scientists from Israel and abroad, representatives of Israel’s health authorities, hospital directors and two of the country’s leading health care providers about what the new data says about the world’s most effective vaccine deployment.

The Israeli vaccination campaign has produced a database that provides information on the efficacy of vaccines beyond controlled clinical trials, as well as when countries could achieve long-awaited but elusive herd immunity.

More will become known in two weeks, as research teams analyze the vaccine’s effectiveness in younger Israelis, as well as specific populations such as people with diabetes, cancer and pregnant women, on a patient basis at least 10 times greater than that in clinical studies . studies.

“We need enough variety of people in that subgroup and enough follow-up time to reach the right conclusions, and we’re getting to that point,” said Ran Balicer, innovation director at HMO Clalit. more than half of the Israeli population.

Pfizer checks the vaccine deployment in Israel weekly for information that can be used around the world.

As a small country with universal healthcare, advanced data units and the promise of rapid deployment, Israel offered Pfizer a unique opportunity to study the real impact of the vaccine developed together with the German BioNTech.

However, the company said it “remains difficult to predict the exact moment when herd immunity may manifest” due to many variables, including measures of social distance and the number of new infections generated by each case, known as the speed of reproduction. .

Israel, which is at the forefront of the global vaccination campaign, has had to lower expectations to overcome the pandemic quickly due to the increasing number of cases.

The country has declared a third lockdown to try to contain the infections attributed to a variant of the virus that is spreading rapidly and was first discovered in the UK. On the positive side, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine appears to be effective against this strain.

“So far we have found an activity of between 90% and 95% against the British strainSaid Hezi Levi, director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health.

“However, it is still early as we will not have finished administering the second dose until the first week,” he said, adding: “It is too early to say anything about the South African variety”.

WHICH ARM?

Israel began its vaccination program on December 19, the day after the Hanukkah holiday, after paying a premium for Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine deliveries.

Four days later, the most contagious variant in the UK was discovered in four people. Although the vaccine prevents the disease in the elderly, the variant now accounts for about 80% of new cases.

In the midst of a race between the vaccine and the new variant, Israel began to vaccinate people over 60 and gradually expanded the program to the rest of the population.

Every detail was digitally tracked, including which arm the patient was punctured on and which bottle it came from.

One week after receiving the second dose of Pfizer, when protection is expected to be complete, 254 of the 416,900 people were infectedaccording to Maccabi, a major Israeli healthcare provider.

Comparison with an unvaccinated group revealed a vaccine effectiveness of 91%Maccabi said.

No infections were recorded 22 days after complete vaccination.

The Israeli experts trust that vaccines, not preventive measures, have reduced numbers, based on the study of different cities, age groups, and pre-vaccination restrictions..

The comparisons were “compelling because they tell us this is the effect of vaccination,” said Segal of the Weizmann Institute.

With 80% of Israeli seniors partially or fully vaccinated, this week will begin to get a more complete picture.

“And we expect general cases and serious illnesses to continue to decline,” said Balicer of HMO Clalit.

VACCINES AND TRANSMISSION

Early indications may be available that vaccines slow both the transmission of the virus and the disease.

At Israel’s largest COVID-19 testing center, run by MyHeritage, researchers have observed a significant decrease in the number of people infected with the virus, known as the cT value, among the age groups with the most vaccinated.

This suggests that even if vaccinated people catch it, they are less likely to spread it to otherssaid Yaniv Erlich, MyHeritage’s Chief Scientific Officer.

“The data from Israel is probably the clearest yet. I think these vaccines will reduce the number of new transmissions, ”said Stefan Baral of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the state of Maryland, USA.

REDUCING PERFORMANCE

It is unclear whether Israel will be able to maintain world-leading vaccination coverage. “If you vaccinate quickly and a lot eventually the hard core is reached, that is, those who are less willing or more difficult to reachSaid Boaz Lev, head of the advisory team at the Ministry of Health.

The timing of vaccination is considered even more important given the rapid transmission of the British variant.

“In the race between the spread of the British variant and vaccines it comes down to it we see a kind of stagnation in terms of seriously illSegal said.

The big question is whether vaccines can wipe out the pandemic.

Michal Linial, a professor of molecular biology and bioinformatics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said data from the past few decades suggests that viruses become endemic and seasonal.

Linial predicts this will be coronavirus much less aggressive, and that you may have one reinforcement within three years.

(With information from Reuters)

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