“In my imagination, it’s like the scene from the movie where you run close to the danger, and at the last minute you get shot.”
He said: “It shows what we already know, which is that the total 95 per cent defense comes after two shots.”
The findings will raise hopes that the vaccines can not only protect people from coronavirus but also stop them from spreading it, although Israeli officials stressed that it was too early to be sure of the this level.
Clalit’s study compared test results for the vaccine group of 200,000 individuals with a sample of 200,000 Israelis who did not receive the vaccine.
The full details of the studies were not published or peer-reviewed. “The graphs will run over day 14 with a 33 percent decline among older people who received the vaccine, with no similar trend among those without vaccines,” said Ran Balicer, founding director of the Clalit Research Institute, in a statement.
Israel has already given the first coronavirus injection to more than two million people – about 20 percent of the population – as part of the world’s fastest vaccination program. The campaign will target older Israelis and those with underlying health ailments but was updated this week to include people over 50.
The 24/7 program, which even runs vaccinations on Shabbat Jewish holy day, is being strengthened by hundreds of Israeli fighting doctors called on asylum duty. However, the disease rate remains high in Israel, breaking a new daily record of 9,500 Monday, as the country enters its third national lockout.