TEL AVIV – The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc.
And BioNTech SE is equally effective across all age groups, including those over 60, according to a new Israeli study, in boosting confidence in global vaccination efforts.
The Pfizer vaccine provided approximately 94% protection against the development of coronavirus symptoms across all age groups over 16 weeks following the second phase of a recommended two-dose regimen, according to a study by researchers from the Israeli Clalit Research Institute and Harvard University. The study also found that the vaccine is 92% effective in preventing serious infection.
The results are in line with the vaccine manufacturer’s own clinical trial, but the large size of the study, which covered nearly 1.2 million people, provides a more detailed view of older age groups that were largely covered by the drug dealer’s test, according to the study’s authors. .
The peer-reviewed study, parts of which was previously reported, was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Israel is the only country to have started vaccinating all age groups over 16 in relatively large numbers, as part of their campaign to send a majority of their population of nine million to in by March.
The pace of Israel’s inclusion campaign and its advanced health care system has allowed researchers to gather real data about the vaccine – from efficacy to side effects – and given them a unique insight into the impact of vaccination across different age groups. The results offer important new insights to other countries as they distribute their own programs.
Researchers on this study were able to look at data from approximately 1.2 million people and the value of two decades of their health records. Because the study was observational in nature, the researchers worked to reduce any biases between the vaccine group against vaccines that may account for better outcomes, such as better health practices. better.
To do this, they matched each person with a vaccine against an unvaccinated person who had the same profile, including their risk level for disease, risk level for serious illness and overall health improvement.
This study provides “scientifically proven real-world evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccine,” he said. Ran Balicer, Clalit’s chief innovation officer and one of the study’s lead authors.
Israel leads the world in the global vaccination race. More than half of their population has received the first sighting, including 90% of those over 60, and about a third of the country is fully vaccinated, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health. After the campaign began in December. 20 with health care workers and the elderly, Israel earlier this month opened everyone over 16.
As highly transmissible coronavirus mutations sweep across the globe, scientists are racing to understand why these new versions of the virus are spreading faster, and what This may involve immunization efforts. New research suggests that the spike protein may be the key, which gives the coronavirus its unique shape. Photo: Nick Collingwood / WSJ
The findings of the Clalit study were similar to recently published research out of the UK and from other Israeli researchers that just one Pfizer image can offer strong protection.
One dose of Pfizer vaccine was found to be 57% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and 62% effective in preventing severe infection 14 to 20 days after the first dose, the study found. Pfizer’s own clinical study also found that a single dose was to be 57% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19.
The vaccine is also extremely effective for those with one or two pre-existing health conditions, the study’s authors said. But they said more testing would be needed to understand how effective the vaccine is for those with three or more pre-existing conditions.
The Israeli study covered more than 110,000 people over 70 years, and more than 40,000 people over 80. In each case, the study showed that their protection was equal to any of the youngest age groups. .
Most countries launched their vaccination programs by targeting the elderly first, but they did not have enough data at the time on its effectiveness to support that trend. Pfizer ‘s first clinical trial, due to its small size, did not get a granular view of adults 70 years or older, according to Mr. Balicer.
The large size of the Israeli data pool allowed researchers to take a closer look at all different ages.
Israel paid a base price for the vaccine and agreed to share related data for early shipments from Pfizer. He also placed orders with other vaccine companies, including Moderna Inc.
and AstraZeneca PLC.
The aggressive vaccination campaign is on track to reopen the country. In the last few months, Israel has suffered through some of the worst disease outbreaks in the world, as have many lock-ups, and more recently, a British reversal of the disease was running rampant. suddenly.
On Saturday afternoon, Israel began issuing so-called green permits that allow vaccinated people to enter gyms, concerts and hotels. The passes will be used later at restaurants and bars when they reopen in the coming weeks.
– Jared Hopkins in New York contributed to this article.
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