An Israeli health worker from Maccabi Healthcare Services is preparing to administer a dose of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on February 24, 2021 in Tel Aviv.
Jack Guez | AFP | Getty Images
The coronavirus variant first discovered in South Africa is able to evade the protection of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, according to a new Israeli study that has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Researchers at the University of Tel Aviv and Clalit, the largest healthcare organization in Israel, examined nearly 400 people who tested positive for Covid-19 after receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. They compared it to the same number of people who were infected and not vaccinated.
According to the researchers, the incidence of the variant from South Africa, known as B.1.351, in patients who received two doses of the vaccine is about eight times higher than those who were not vaccinated. The data, published online over the weekend, suggests that B.1.351 may “break through” the protection of the vaccine better than the original strain, the researchers wrote in the study.
“Based on patterns in the general population, we would have expected only one case of the South African variant, but we have seen eight,” Professor Adi Stern, head of the research, told The Times of Israel. “We can say that it is less effective, but more research is needed to determine exactly how much.”
CNBC contacted Pfizer for comment on the study.
The new data comes as public health officials become concerned that highly contagious variants, which according to studies could reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, could halt the world’s progress with the pandemic.
Last month, the director of CDC, dr. Rochelle Walensky, issued a stern warning and told reporters that she was concerned that the United States was facing an “impending doom” as variants spread and daily Covid-19 cases began to bounce back, threatening more people to the hospital.
“I’m going to stop here, I’m going to lose the script and I’ll think about the recurring feeling I have of the impending doom,” she said on March 29. “We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential from where we are and so much reason for hope, but at the moment I’m scared.”
Israel launched its national vaccination campaign in December to prioritize people aged 60 and over, health workers and people with poor conditions. By February, it was the global leader in vaccinations and millions of residents had been vaccinated against the virus.
In January, Pfizer and the Israeli Ministry of Health entered into a cooperation agreement to monitor the impact of the vaccine on the real world.
The researchers noted that the biggest caveat of the study was the sample size. B.1.351 accounted for only about 1% of all Covid-19 cases, they said. B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the United Kingdom, is more common.
As variants spread, drug manufacturers said they were testing whether a third dose offered more protection.
In February, Pfizer and BioNTech said they were testing a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine to better understand the immune response to new variants of the virus.