JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Less than 0.01% of people who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine contracted the virus more than a week after receiving the second dose, a leading Israeli healthcare provider said yesterday said.
Preliminary results shared by Israeli HMO Maccabi showed that only 20 people out of approximately 128,600 who received both shots have since been infected with the COVID-19 virus.
Israel is a world leader with its rapid explosion of vaccines, although the data also comes during a nationwide exclusion that helped stem the contagion. Israelis began receiving the first shots of Pfizer’s vaccine on December 19.
The country offers Pfizer weekly data updates on its vaccine campaign under a collaboration agreement that could help other countries adjust their own vaccinations.
“According to Maccabi experts, this is preliminary data, but the numbers are very encouraging,” Maccabi said in a statement.
“Maccabi reports that 50% of the 20 people infected suffer from chronic diseases. All patients experienced a mild illness with symptoms such as headache, cough, weakness or fatigue. No one was admitted to hospital or had a fever above 38.5C “Most patients tested for COVID-19 due to exposure to a verified patient,” it said.
Anat Ekka Zohar, director of Maccabi’s information and digital health division, said “the fact that the infected patients come from different profiles is in line with Pfizer’s trial results.”
“We will closely monitor these patients to see if they are suffering from mild symptoms only and not from complications due to the virus,” she said.
More than 2.6 million Israelis received a single dose of the vaccine and about 1.2 million received both shots, out of a population of about 9 million.
Israel reported about 600,000 viral infections and 4,478 deaths during the pandemic.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Dan Williams; Editing by Alex Richardson)