Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was over 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, according to real-world Israeli data released late Thursday.
The latest analysis suggests that Pfizer’s vaccine could overwhelmingly halt asymptomatic spread — a main driver of infections since asymptomatic people are often unaware they have the virus. The data also showed that the vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic cases, hospitalizations and deaths, slightly higher than the 95% effectiveness found in its clinical trials.
Israel has fully vaccinated 44% of its population — one of the highest rates in the world — giving further proof that vaccines can effectively halt the spread of the coronavirus.
A paramedic with Israel’s Magen David Adom medical services administers the Pfizer-BioNTech in east Jerusalem, on March 17, 2021. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Unvaccinated people, however, were 44 times more likely to develop a symptomatic coronavirus case and 29 times more likely to die from the virus, the data showed, though it has not yet undergone a peer review. (RELATED: As US Vaccinations Ramp Up, A Sizable Minority Of Americans Say They Still Don’t Want One)
The analysis was also tested overwhelmingly against the coronavirus variant from the U.K., which experts have said could be more transmissible and lethal than the original strain.
Vaccinations have picked up in the United States as well. The country officially hit 100,000,000 doses administered Friday, with some states expanding eligibility to all residents 16 and older.
Coronavirus cases and deaths have fallen nationwide as well. The U.S. recorded just under 61,000 new cases and 1,558 new deaths Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University, down 13% and 28% from two weeks ago, respectively.
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