Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said Wednesday that real data from Israel suggests that their COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic diseases, meaning the vaccine could significantly reduce spread.
The companies also said that the latest analysis of Israeli data shows that the vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease, true illness and death.
That’s basically in line with the 95% efficacy of Pfizer and BioNTech reported from an end-of-vaccine clinical trial in December.
According to the analysis, unvaccinated individuals were 44 times more likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19 and 29 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who received the vaccine.
The data, collected between 17 January and 6 March, were not peer-reviewed.
Of the nine million people in Israel, a country with universal healthcare, more than five million have received the first dose, and four million have received both doses since the outbreak began on 19 December.
The new data is consistent with a study by health fund Clalit last month, that two doses of Pfizer burned COVID-19 analogous cases by 94% across all age groups, and near-real illnesses.
The study of about 1.2 million people also showed that one picture was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic diseases after two weeks, according to data published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The results of the study for the Clalit Research Institute were close to those in clinical trials last year which found that two doses were to be 95% effective.
In addition, data released by the Ministry of Health last week showed that 1% of Israelis who have received a full vaccine against coronavirus have contracted the pathogen.
Out of 3,387,340 Israelis who at the time had received both vaccine doses, only 4,711 tested positive for the disease, with 907 or 0.02% showing very mild symptoms.
Hospitals also confirmed that the data – collected a week after the people involved in the study received a second look – shows the picture in their coronavirus wards.
Adir Yanko contributed to this report