Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine is likely to prevent asymptomatic infection

Pfizer Inc. and BioNtech SE stated that real-world data from Israel shows that their COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective in preventing incurable infections, meaning the vaccine can significantly reduce transmission.

The companies also stated that the latest analysis of Israeli data shows that the vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease, critical illness and death. This basically corresponds to 95% efficacy of Pfizer and BioNTech, reported in December from a late-stage clinical trial of the vaccine.

Also Read: Coronavirus | Pfizer studying the effects of 3 vaccine doses

The analysis also shows real-world evidence of the vaccine’s effectiveness against the highly infectious version of COVID-19 discovered in Britain, known as B.1.1.7. When analyzed more than 80% of the samples tested were variants B.1.1.7.

Only a limited number of infections occurred in Israel, caused by the so-called South African version – known as B.1.351 – so they were not able to evaluate the vaccine’s effectiveness against this version.

Also Read: Coronavirus | Pfizer vaccine may neutralize previously described variants in Britain, South Africa: study

Israel is leading the world in its vaccination roll out due to a data sharing agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech. According to Health Ministry data, as of Wednesday, approximately 55% of its 4 million population had been given at least one dose of the Pfizer / BioNotech COVID-19 vaccine, and 43% had received both doses.

According to the analysis, uninfected individuals were 44 times more likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19 and 29 times more likely to develop COVID-19 than those who received the vaccine.

The data collected between January 17 and March 6 have not yet been reviewed.

Israel’s Ministry of Health first found that Pfizer vaccine developed with BioNTech in Germany reduces infection, including 89.4% in asymptomatic cases and 93.7% in concomitant cases. This was in data collected between January 17 and February 6.