Israel study reports 94% drop in symptomatic COVID-19 cases among people who receive 2 doses of Pfizer vaccine

• Study found people who get the Pfizer vaccine are 94% less likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19.
• Israeli researchers found that fully vaccinated people are 92% less likely to develop severe cases. 
• The study compared 600,000 vaccinated people to same size group of unvaccinated people, Reuters wrote.
• Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

People who get the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine are far less likely to develop symptomatic or severe COVID-19, according to a new study out of Israel.

Researchers from Israel’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit, looked at 600,000 Israelis who had received two doses of the Pfizer shot.

They reported a 94% drop in symptomatic coronavirus infections — when patients develop symptoms like fever or shortness of breath — among people who had been vaccinated compared to those who had not, Reuters reported Sunday.

Read more: ICE has no plan to vaccinate 13,860 immigrants in its custody against COVID-19. Here’s how one of the US’s most at-risk groups is falling through the cracks.

The preliminary study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, also found that people who had been fully vaccinated were 92% less likely to develop severe COVID-19 that may require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator.

‘Extremely effective in the real world’

An Israeli military paramedic prepares a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, to be administered to elderly people at a medical center in Ashdod, southern Israel, January 7, 2021.Tsafrir Abayov/ AP Images

In December, Pfizer reported its vaccine was 95% effective at preventing symptomatic coronavirus infections during clinical trials. The new Clalit study underscores that effectiveness among the general public outside of a controlled trial setting.  

“It shows unequivocally that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is extremely effective in the real world a week after the second dose, just as it was found to be in the clinical study,” Ran Balicer, Clalit’s chief innovation officer, told Reuters.

He added that the vaccine is even more effective two weeks after the second shot.

Clalit Health Services covers more than half of Israel’s patients, which may make it easier for Clalit researchers to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

They compared the 600,000 people who had received two Pfizer vaccine doses to an unvaccinated group of the same size. Both groups had similar medical histories.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 430,000 of those people were between the ages of 16 and 59 years, and 170,000 who were age 60 or older.

So far, Israel has fully vaccinated 28.5% of its population. That’s more than any other country.

Clalit’s recent research is the largest vaccine study in the country to date. 

Healthcare Explained:

Telehealth Industry
Value-Based Care
Senior Care & Assisted Living Market
Medical Devices & Wearable Tech
AI in Healthcare
Remote Patient Monitoring

Get the latest coronavirus business & economic impact analysis from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is affecting industries.

Source: Read Full Article