Pfizer vax 97% effective in symptomatic Covid cases: Study

New York:  Pfizer-BioNtech’s Covid-19 vaccine offers at least 97 percent effectiveness in symptomatic Covid-19 cases, according to real-world data published by the pharma company.

The analysis, based on real-world data gathered by the Israel Ministry of Health, also found the vaccine’s effectiveness at 94 percent against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections.

“We are extremely encouraged that the real-world effectiveness data coming from Israel are confirming the high efficacy demonstrated in our Phase 3 clinical trial and showing the significant impact of the vaccine in preventing severe disease and deaths due to Covid-19,” Luis Jodar, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Pfizer Vaccines, said in a statement.

The latest data analysis finds unvaccinated individuals were 44 times more likely to develop symptomatic Covid-19 and 29 times more likely to die from this virus-borne disease.

This comprehensive real-world evidence can be of importance to countries around the world as they advance their own vaccination campaigns one year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a pandemic, the statement said.

In January, Pfizer and the Israel MoH entered into a collaboration agreement to monitor the real-world impact of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

The findings from the analysis were derived from de-identified aggregate Israel MoH surveillance data collected between January 17 and March 6, 2021.

For all outcomes, vaccine effectiveness was measured from two weeks after the second dose.

(IANS)