An Israeli healthcare provider said Wednesday that Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective in a study of 602,000 people, which reinforces the findings of the drug’s effectiveness.
Maccabi Healthcare Services, which accounts for more than a quarter of all Israelis, said in a statement that only 608 people tested positive for COVID-19 for more than a week after receiving the second of two required doses of Pfizer.
The comparison was against a group of 528,000 Israelis with similar backgrounds who did not receive the vaccine, Maccabi said. Of these, 20,621 tested positive.
“By comparing the proportion of new cases between the vaccinated and still vaccinated groups, the efficacy of the vaccine in Israel is currently estimated at 95%, seven or more days after receiving the second dose,” Maccabi said.
Most of the 608 infected vaccines reported only mild symptoms, such as headaches or coughs, Maccabi said. About 21 needed hospitalization, seven of whom had severe symptoms.
The data from Maccabi reinforce the efficacy findings by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, which after a late stage of the trial also found that their vaccine is 95% effective.
Nearly 44% of Israel’s 9.1 million citizens have received at least one survey of the Pfizer vaccine, making the country the largest study of its effectiveness.
Clalit, the largest healthcare provider in Israel, on Wednesday reported a 94% drop in COVID-19 symptomatic cases among 600,000 people who both received Pfizer doses.