A coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech showed that the symptomatic COVID-19 dropped by 94%, according to new research from Israel. The peer-reviewed results provide a first look at efficacy in real-world conditions, and have shown consistency with a high 95% vaccine efficacy reported during clinical trials.
Findings from the Clalit Research Institute, and contributing contributions from several U.S. universities, were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, which stems from approximately 1.2 million people in Israel. Half of the group were vaccinated from December to February, and the other half were not, and serve as a control group.
A peer-reviewed study of a nationwide immunization effort is important to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine in real, uncontrolled conditions compared to clinical trials, and the problems with maintaining the cold chain, vaccination schedule, and roll-out of the vaccine among many more diverse populations, including those with chronic diseases, researchers wrote. Individuals under the age of 16 were excluded, although Pfizer is currently conducting clinical trials in the 12-15 age group.
One week after two doses were administered, the team documented 87% efficacy to drop hospitalizations, a 92% reduction in serious illness and 92% efficacy for documented infection, compared to 14-20 days after an initial dose of 74%, 62% and 46% respectively.
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“This study in a nationwide mass vaccination suggests that the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine is effective for a wide range of Covid-19-related outcomes, a finding consistent with that of the randomized trial,” the study reads.
The findings also suggest that the vaccine for adults over 70 offers the same degree of protection as younger groups. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said earlier that they could not evaluate the efficacy of Pfizer’s vaccine in certain high-risk populations of severe COVID-19, such as individuals with immunosuppression, or in those previously treated with SARS-CoV-2. was not infected.
In a separate note, the researchers said that the vaccine is likely to be effective against a coronavirus variant first detected in the UK called B.1.1.7. Although they could not specify the efficacy of the vaccine against the variant, up to 80% of the samples in Israel had the variant before data were collected, while the authors of the study wrote: ‘the plateau observed during the later periods in the cumulative occurrence curve [on hospitalizations, deaths and more] for vaccines indicates that the BNT162b2 vaccine is also effective for this variant. A separate variant that was first detected in South Africa was considered ‘rare’ during the early vaccination attempts in Israel.
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Israel has been praised for its rapid vaccination efforts and high uptake, with about one-third of its population now fully vaccinated.
“These results reinforce the expectation that newly approved vaccines may help mitigate the far-reaching global effects of the Covid – 19 pandemic,” study authors wrote.