The pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Thursday morning that evidence from the Israeli Ministry of Health from the real world shows that there were ‘dramatically’ fewer Covid-19 cases and deaths among people in Israel who were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer / BioNTech. vaccine compared to those who have not been vaccinated.
According to the announcement, the latest analysis by the Israeli Ministry of Health is based on data collected between January 17 and March 6. At that time, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was the only Covid-19 vaccine available in the country, and the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, first identified in the United Kingdom, was predominant.
According to the announcement by Pfizer and BioNTech, the Israeli Ministry of Health’s latest analysis shows that the effectiveness of the vaccine two weeks after the second dose was at least 97% to prevent symptomatic diseases, hospitalizations and death. The analysis also found that the effectiveness of the vaccine was 94% in preventing asymptomatic Covid-19, where infections show no symptoms.
“We are very encouraged that the actual efficacy data from Israel confirm the high efficacy in our Phase 3 clinical phase and show the significant impact of the vaccine on the prevention of serious diseases and deaths due to COVID-19,” said Luis Jodar . , senior vice president and chief medical officer at Pfizer Vaccines, said in the announcement.
“The findings, which suggest that the vaccine may also provide protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections, are particularly significant because we want to disrupt the spread of the virus worldwide,” Jodar said.
SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus that causes Covid-19.
The announcement comes about two weeks after a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 – meaning people infected with the coronavirus and feeling sick – decreased by 94% has among those who received two doses. the vaccine. Even before the second dose, the vaccine’s effectiveness has reached 60%.
“This clearly demonstrates the power of the COVID-19 vaccine to fight this virus and encourages us to continue our vaccination campaign even more intensively. We strive to achieve even higher uptake in people of all ages, which we gives hope for normal economic recovery and social function in the not so distant future, ”said Yeheskel Levy, director of the Israeli Ministry of Health, in the announcement.
“When we started our development in January last year, our goal was to make a difference for people worldwide and to end this pandemic,” said Dr. Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, said in the announcement. “One year after the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO, we now see that we are on track to achieve our goals.”
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said data from Israel showing that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine prevented asymptomatic infection and death was a message of hope one year after the declaration of a pandemic.
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity that we have a message of hope on this day of the first anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic,” Bourla told CNC’s Meg Tirrell on Squawk Box.
Bourla explained that the data came from a country where more than 55% of the total population was vaccinated.
The effectiveness in Israel so far is 97% and says: “all three measures, mild illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths are north of 97% in the real world with millions of people being vaccinated.”
Most important of all, perhaps according to him, it seems to be 94% effective against asymptomatic transmission.
Bourla said it was important to society, “because the asymptomatic carriers, the asymptomatic patients are the ones who spread the disease primarily.”
“This is the first time we have confirmed evidence of a real-world study of such magnitude,” he said.