Israel, located in the Middle East, has already vaccinated 35% of its citizens with the first dose of Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) vaccine, which is unique in the world in terms of efficiency. However, experts say that according to the data, the Pfizer/BNT vaccine administered in Israel does prevent severe disease in vaccinated individuals, but it is still uncertain whether herd immunity can be achieved.
Israel has acquired a large stockpile of Pfizer/BNT vaccine by paying more than the market price and by instantly sharing its world class medical database with Pfizer, making Israel the fastest vaccinating country in the world. With a population of nearly 9 million, 35% of Israel’s population has already received their first dose and another 1.8 million have completed their second dose.
According to the Maccabi Research and Innovation Center, the Israeli healthcare system, the Pfizer vaccine must be completed by day 13 before it takes significant effect, and those who have received their first dose have a 51% lower infection rate after day 13 than those who have received their first dose within 12 days.
The Maccabi Research Center also noted that they tracked 248,000 people who had received two doses of the vaccine and found that 66 of them developed mild symptoms of Wuhan pneumonia within a week.
Israeli public health expert Gabi Barbash said the vaccine was effective in reducing the chance of severe illness, but it is still not known whether the vaccine can reduce the rate of transmission of the virus.
In addition, despite Israel’s vaccination program and the nationwide blockade that began Dec. 27, the country is still averaging more than 2,000 confirmed cases a day. “If you follow the number of new cases every day, you will see that the number of confirmed cases has not decreased in the last month and a half,” Barbaş said. Is it “because the lockdown is not strict enough? Or is it because the vaccine hasn’t been able to reduce the rate of spread? We don’t know.”
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