Coronavirus: Latest Israeli data proves vaccines work – 0.1% infected

Less than 0.1% of individuals who received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine contracted the disease, according to data released Thursday evening by Maccabi Healthcare Services. 

Vaccine effectiveness in Israel is now 93%, according to the data.The Pfizer vaccine was proven to be 95% effective in its Phase III clinical trials.

The report showed that as of data tracked until February 11, when a week had passed since 523,000 people had received their second shot, only 544 people were infected. 

“The data unequivocally prove that the vaccine is very effective and we have no doubt that it has saved the lives of many Israelis,” said Dr. Miri Mizrahi Reuveni, head of Maccabi’s health division. 

No one who was vaccinated died. Moreover, the majority of those who did contract the virus had only mild or no symptoms.

“Out of 544 infected, only 15 people needed hospitalization,” the report said, “four of which were defined as in serious condition, three in moderate and eight mild.”

Maccabi ran a random test among its non-vaccinated clients at the same time and found that of 628,000 members of diverse profiles, 18,425 contracted coronavirus during the same period – 2.9%.

“Since there is active morbidity among children and adolescents up to the age of 16 who cannot be vaccinated, and the mutations of the virus are much more contagious, this means that whoever does not get vaccinated will be infected sooner or later,” Mizrahi Reuveni contended. “Please hurry up and make an appointment as soon as possible. Protect yourself from a serious illness and, God forbid, from death, as well as the possibility that you will infect and endanger others.”

So far, Maccabi has vaccinated more than one million members with at least one dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. The country has inoculated more than 3.7 million, including some nearly 2.4 million with their second shot.

On Thursday, Eran Segal, a computational biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, reported that since the peak of morbidity in mid-January, there has been a 38% decrease in the number of patients in serious condition and a 40% decrease in the number of deaths among the population over the age of 60.

He also said there are 58% fewer new older patients, and 44% fewer hospitalizations in general.

“About three weeks ago, they started receiving their second vaccine dose,” Segal wrote.