Pfizer Covid Vaccine 94% Effective, Study On 1.2 Million People

The first major real-world study of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows that vaccination is extremely effective in preventing Covid-19, at an important time for countries desperate to end blockages and reopen economies.

To date, most data on coronavirus vaccines have come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty about how the results would translate into the real world.

Research in Israel - two months into one of the fastest launches in the world, providing a rich source of data - has shown that two doses of Pfizer have reduced symptomatic cases by 94% in all age groups and severe diseases. a lot.

The study of about 1.2 million people also showed that a single dose was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks, according to data published and reviewed by colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The results of the study for the Clalit Research Institute were close to those in last year's clinical trials, which found that two doses were 95% effective.

We were surprised because we expect that, in the real context, in which the cold chain is not perfectly maintained and the population is older and sicker, that you will not get as good results as you obtained in clinical trials. controlled, Ran Balicer told Reuters.

"But I did it and the vaccine worked just as well in the real world."

"We have shown that the vaccine is just as effective in very different subgroups, in young people and the elderly in those without comorbidities and those with few comorbidities," he added.

The study also suggests that the vaccine, developed by the American company Pfizer and the German company BioNTech, is effective against the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK. The researchers said they could not provide a specific level of effectiveness, but the variant was the dominant version of the virus in Israel at the time of the study.

The research did not shed light on how Pfizer will work against another variant, now dominant in South Africa, which has been shown to reduce the effectiveness of other vaccines.

Of the nine million people in Israel, a nation with universal health care, nearly half received the first dose, and a quarter received both doses since the launch on December 19.

This has made the country a prime location for a real-world study of the vaccine's ability to stop the pandemic, along with its advanced data capabilities.

The study examined approximately 600,000 vaccinated people against the same size control group as unvaccinated people. Researchers from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital also collaborated.

This is better news, confirming that the vaccine is about 90% effective in preventing documented infection with any severity from seven days after the second dose, said Peter English, the UK government's consultant on communicable disease control.

Previous documents recently studied in Israel were observational studies. He used an experimental design known as a case-control study giving greater confidence that the differences between the groups were due to their vaccination status and not another factor.

The study published on Wednesday was the first analysis of a national Covid vaccination strategy that was evaluated by colleagues. It also provided a more detailed look at the evolution of the vaccine at weekly intervals, while matching those who received the vaccine with unvaccinated individuals with a similar medical history, sex, age, and geographic characteristics.

Other Israeli research centres, including the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israeli Institute of Technology, have shared several studies in recent weeks showing that the vaccine is effective.

At least three Israeli studies have also suggested that the vaccine may reduce coronavirus transmission, but researchers have warned that more studies need to be done to draw clear conclusions.

Pfizer Covid Vaccine 94% Effective, Study On 1.2 Million People
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