COVID-19: Pfizer vaccine 94% effective, mass 'Real World' study confirms

The real-world test of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine confirmed that the vaccine is ‘very effective’ in preventing serious illness or death. The results were published on Wednesday, February 24, after a mass vaccine campaign in Israel, giving a strong reassurance that the benefits seen in smaller, limited testing persisted when the vaccine was used much more widely in a general population. The vaccine was used on people with different ages and health conditions. 

'Better than I would have guessed' 

Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Gregory Poland said, “This is immensely reassuring ... better than I would have guessed”. “Even after one dose we can see very high effectiveness in prevention of death”, said Vanderbilt University’s Dr. Buddy Creech. The vaccine is equally effective on the elder population as it is on the younger population. 

It was 92 per cent effective at preventing severe disease after two shots and 62 per cent effective after one shot. The estimated effectiveness at preventing death was 72 per cent. This was two to three weeks after the first shot. 

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Creech said, “I would rather see 100 million people have one dose than to see 50 million people have two doses. I see a lot of encouragement on one dose”. Both the doctors have not been involved in the Israel study. However, both have actively participated in the coronavirus vaccine work. The doctor also said that the new results may boost consideration of delaying the second shot or giving one dose instead of two to people who have already had COVID-19. This is being done to stretch the supplies. 

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The study which was led by researchers from the Clalit Research Institute and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, with Harvard University in the US, compared nearly 600,000 people, of age 16 and older, in Israel’s largest health care organization, who were given shots in December or January to an equal number of people of similar age, sex and health who did not receive vaccine. None of them had tested positive for the virus. It was estimated that the vaccine would be 57 per cent effective in preventing any symptoms of COVID-19 two to three weeks after the first dose. Also, it was concluded that it will be 94 per cent effective a week or more after the second dose.

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(Image Credits: AP)