In the first official results from the Israel vaccination trial, the Ministry of Health reported today that only 317 people out of the first 715,425, to have received both Pfizer Covid jabs, have subsequently contracted the virus, in other words 0.04%. Of this number only 16 had to be hospitalized, or 0.002%.
Of those 1,156 people currently hospitalized in Israel in serious condition with Covid-19, 322 are below the age of 60 and 83% of them have not been vaccinated. 16% have had just one vaccination dose and 1% both doses. Among the 834 people over 60 who are hospitalized, 56% have not been vaccinated, 42% had one vaccination dose and 2% have had both doses.
It is still not possible to compare these results fully with Pfizer's trial because only a small period of time has passed since the vaccinations were administered.
Nevertheless, it is possible to draw the conclusion that the vaccination does work, because enough time has passed to show a dramatic difference in the infection rate of the group in Israel that has been vaccinated compared with the group that has not. It is also clear that while a risk of contracting the virus remains after both doses of the vaccine, that risk is enormously reduced.
Attention will now also focus on those who have become seriously ill with Covid, despite having both vaccinations, to see if they fare any better on average than those seriously ill patients, who have not been inoculated, and also whether they have perhaps been infected by one of the new mutations.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 28, 2021
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