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. But experts say that according to the data, the Pfizer/BNT vaccine administered in Israel can indeed prevent severe illness in vaccinated people, but whether it can achieve herd immunity is still unknown.
AFP reports that Israel has acquired a large stockpile of Pfizer/BNT vaccine by paying higher than market prices and by sharing its world-class medical database with Pfizer immediately, making Israel the world’s fastest vaccinating country. 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 the 13th day before it takes significant effect, and those who have received their first dose have a 51% lower infection rate after the 13th day than those who have just received their first dose within 12 days.
The Maccabi Research Center also noted that they tracked 248,000 people who had completed 2 doses and found that 66 of them had mild symptoms of Wuhan pneumonia within a week.
Israeli public health expert Gabi Barbash said the vaccine did effectively reduce 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 new 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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