With the emergence of Covid-19 as a serious health threat, the world has long ago shifted the focus from Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) towards vaccines for prevention. As per a report published in Bloomberg, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine rolled out in Israel appeared to be effectual and curbs transmission of coronavirus.
The national immunization program in Israel began on December 20 and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has appeared to be 89.4% effective at preventing the infection and curbs the transmission of coronavirus.
As per the latest report, nearly half of the population in Israel has been jabbed with the vaccine so far which is the largest per capita than anywhere else in the world.
A preliminary observational analysis was carried out by the companies in collaboration with Israel’s Health Ministry to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Pfizer-BioNTech shot was 99% effective at preventing deaths from the virus, Israeli officials maintained.
Besides, it has also been speculated that the vaccine may also prevent asymptomatic carriers from spreading the virus.
However, for now, the clinical trials have focused on testing the safety and efficacy of the drug to stop symptomatic infections.
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Whereas, Professor of Biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Raina MacIntyre, maintained that they need to see the data to estimate the potential for achieving herd immunity with vaccines.
Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech refused to comment on the unpublished and unofficial data from Israel and maintained that they have been working on real-world analysis of data obtained from the country.
The study also focused to compare the number of reported cases between fully vaccinated and those who hadn’t been jabbed.
Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist at the University of Auckland has maintained that a vaccine that is 89% effective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, is likely to be effective at eliminating Covid-19 in a population in which high vaccination coverage is achieved.