Israel says Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine 92% effective after two doses

Findings bolster trial data on efficacy, ending worries about limited protection with the first dose

An Israeli man receives a coronavirus vaccine from the Magen David Adom emergency services, in Pisgat Ze'ev, an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. Rosie Scammell / The National

Only 31 of a group of 163,000 people fully vaccinated in Israel with the Pfizer-BioNtech drug have since caught Covid-19, bolstering trial figures on effectiveness of the shots.

The results indicate that the drug is 92 per cent effective in real world settings – in line with the Phase 3 trial data that indicated a 95 per cent effectiveness – the Times of Israel reported.

The newspaper said that in an equivalent group of unvaccinated people in Israel, there were 6,437 cases of Covid-19 in the same 10-day window.

While experts cheered the findings by Maccabi Health that runs a number of vaccination centres, they also pointed out it was an inexact measure as the study had no official control group to benchmark against but said it was still a strong indicator.

Cyrille Cohen, an immunology expert at Bar-Ilan University, told the paper that the wider Israeli society was a form of “imperfect” control group.

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The results also come after concerns were raised when early data suggested only 33 per cent less infections in those that had the first of the two doses of the vaccine after 14 days. The findings, however, appear to bolster the indication that the second dose is crucial to building antibody levels to prevent the virus.

The news comes as Pfizer-BioNtech says that their vaccine is effective against coronavirus mutations found in the variants emerging from Britain and South Africa.

Several new variants – each with a cluster of genetic mutations – have sparked fears over an increase in infectiousness as well as suggestions that the virus could begin to elude immune response, whether from prior infection or a vaccine.

The two companies said these preliminary findings "do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to address the emerging variants".

They said they were "prepared to respond" if a new strain was shown to be able to evade the immunity of the vaccine, adding that they could produce updates to their product if needed.

Other manufactures have suggested 'booster' shots could be developed swiftly to improve the efficacy against variant strains if other drugs struggle to prevent illness.