JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing COVID-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies. Up until now, most data on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables. The research in Israel – two months into one of the world’s fastest rollouts, providing a rich source of data – showed two doses of the Pfizer shot cut symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much. The study of about 1.2 million people also showed a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks, according to the data published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The results of the study for the Clalit Research Institute were close to those in clinical trials last year which found two doses were found to be 95% effective.
“We were surprised because we expected that in the real-world setting, where cold chain is not maintained perfectly and the population is older and sicker, that you will not get as good results as you got in the controlled clinical trials,” senior study author Ran Balicer told Reuters. “But we did and the vaccine worked as well in the real world.”
“We have shown the vaccine to be as effective in very different sub-groups, in the young and in the old in those with no co-morbidities and in those with few co-morbidities,” he added. The study also suggests the vaccine, developed by U.S drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, is effective against the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK. Researchers said they could not provide a specific level of efficacy, but the variant was the dominant version of the virus in Israel at the time of the study. The research did not shed light on how the Pfizer shot will fare against another variant, now dominant in South Africa, that has been shown to reduce the efficacy of other vaccines. Of the nine million people in Israel, a nation with universal healthcare, nearly half have received a first dose, and a third have received both doses since the rollout began on Dec. 19. This made the country a prime location for a real-world study into the vaccine’s ability to stem the pandemic, along with its advanced data capabilities. The study examined about 600,000 vaccinated people against the same sized control group of unvaccinated people. Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital also collaborated. “This is more great news, confirming that the vaccine is around 90% effective at preventing documented infection of any degree of severity from 7 days after the second dose,” said Peter English, a British government consultant in communicable disease control. “Previous recently studied papers from Israel were observational studies. This one used an experimental design known as a case-control study … giving greater confidence that differences between the groups are due to their vaccination status, and not to some other factor.” The study published on Wednesday was the first analysis of a national COVID-19 vaccination strategy to be peer-reviewed. It also offered a more detailed look at how the vaccine was faring at weekly intervals, while matching people who received the shot to unvaccinated individuals with similar medical histories, sex, age and geographical characteristics. Other research centres in Israel, including the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israel Institute of Technology have shared several studies in recent weeks that show the vaccine to be effective. At least three studies out of Israel have also suggested the vaccine can reduce coronavirus transmission, but the researchers have cautioned that wider studies must be conducted in order to establish clear-cut conclusions. The Weizmann Institute’s latest data shows a dramatic drop in illness – which began this month with the first age group vaccinated, the over-60s – has now extended to the two subsequent groups to have completed both doses. As infections have fallen in Israel, the country has eased its third national lockdown and reopened swathes of its economy including malls, shops, schools and many workplaces in the past two weeks. Recreational venues such as theatres, gyms and hotels opened on Sunday, but are open only to those deemed immune – holders of a “Green Pass”, a health ministry document available for download only by people seven days after their second dose or people who have recovered from COVID-19. The vaccine’s efficacy does not mean the country will be pandemic free any time soon. Like elsewhere in the world, a large proportion of the population are under 16 – about a third in Israel – meaning that they cannot yet get vaccinated as there have not been clinical trial results for children. “This is definitely not the end of the pandemic,” said Eran Kopel, an epidemiologist at Tel Aviv University. “Once there is a safe vaccine for the children in Israel and all over the world we can then start to say that we could be approaching herd immunity.” Nick Note: My job is to get their ahead of time. See its called FUTURES trading. Not CNN bizz news dick head NOW trading via consensus opinion……And to do this you need to be able to hit the reset button when ever is necessary. You guys get stuck on average points…. Get stuck on spreading…. shit all over yourself as you watch profits disappear. ALL ALL ALL ALL are the nature of successful trading…..AND MY TRADING THESE PAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN THE BEST EVER. In a word flexibility is the is key. Here is an example of a reset button type change. Our in depth on the spot analysis has changed. See we have a team of staff to gather information not CNN pull you dick publishing corporate spin press releases but boots on the ground. And we have no rules in gathering information. Including sitting on McDougals chest to get him to confess to the Clinton White Water story., Whatever it takes and i mean whatever it takes. At the start of this plague we had staff in London (Mosh, Dennis, Sarah, Anna and Musa) and that is how (along with my dream) we first reported this plague and realized the Chinese were sending infected (mostly asymptomatic people) the world over to spread the plague. When the vaccines were first announced we were skeptical….. We used people in Belgium and Israel and consultants to get a understanding of the technology. Traditional hollowed out Monkey DNA infused Johnson vaccine. Versus the mRNA Pfizer. We were soon convinced the new technology RNA vaccine was the way to go. As we continued to collect information we put boots on the ground in Israel which is light years ahead of the world on the Pfizer vaccine. What you may not know Israel swooped in paid 5 times the going rate for the vaccines to be able to inoculate their entire population. Its cheaper to vaccinate your population and open up your economy…. Then issue trillions in happy checks to try and mitigate the damage. Its cheaper to put new tires and fix the brakes on your car as versus repairing it after the wreck. SO we followed the money in this case the vaccines. We soon learned that the Pfizer mRNA technology something new was the way to go and urged our loyal members to get the shot. Now all our concerns have been proven to be nonstarters. The vaccines work they will stop ALL variants of the coronavirus with booster shots just like the yearly flue jab…. but much safer. So that caused a rethink and a reset button moment. And i am now of the opinion the coronavirus will be defeated and the global economy will open. So that means party on the WORLDS stock markets…… Creating a bubble that will give us the biggest wipeout ever. But between now and then its party time on Wall Street