Pfizer vaccine seems to lag behind when it comes to protecting people from the delta variant, warns the Israeli Government. The vaccine showed 64% effectiveness as of June. It was 95% in May when the Delta variant was not dominant. The jab is 95% effective against all other strains of the virus, the Government adds. Even now, the Pfizer vaccine prevents severe infections and hospitalizations up to 95 %.
Pfizer Vaccine May Be Less Effective Against The Delta Variant, Warns The Government Of Israel
The statement cited preliminary figures but did not reveal detailed information on the matter. A team at the Hebrew University warned that it is immature to draw conclusions. Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, shared the same concern. According to him, mRNA vaccines protect you from severe infections to a great extent. And the protection they offer against hospitalization is of the highest standard. Thus if a person is vaccinated, there exists no reason to be anxious.
Israel’s Health Ministry published some data and offered a detailed explanation of the illness coronavirus causes. It also offered in-depth details on the apparent efficacy of vaccines against the same. The vaccine may be less effective against infections during the time when the Delta variant was prevalent. Still, it prevents severe illnesses and hospitalizations.
Israel administers Pfizer vaccine to everyone above 12 years of age. This, according to scientists, offers the first glimpse of the real-time data on the efficacy of the vaccine.
According to the Government, the decline in efficacy may be because of the spread of the Delta variant of the virus. It was detected at first in India. The strain is also called B.1.617.2. This is more infectious when compared with the others of the kind.
Pfizer, however, refused to comment on unpublished data. But it said that studies found its vaccine effective against the lab-created versions of the Delta variant and other strains of the virus. The study showed that if fully vaccinated, you stay safe from all infections.
Israel is the global leader when it comes to vaccination. It has fully vaccinated 63% of its population. One-thirds of its people have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
The observation points to the possibility of a possible risk; the emergence of new variants. Some of them may evade the protection vaccines in general provide. Experts, at present, suggest that full vaccination offer protection against all variants, including the Delta strain.
A study by the public health experts in England showed that two doses of the vaccines from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca offer up to 92% and 95% protection from hospitalization due to the Delta variant. A similar Scottish study suggests that the Pfizer vaccine offers up to 79% protection from infections from the Delta strain. The same is 95% against the Alfa strain. It also showed that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine provided 63% protection from the Delta variant. The same is 73% from the Alfa variant.
The companies like Moderna and Johnson & Johnson offer similar observations about their vaccines. They say this based on the lab-made versions of the Delta strain. Officials, however, observe the risk of a change for the worse. Viruses may mutate. This is the reason why they want everyone to get vaccinated at the earliest opportunity. The more it spreads, the more the virus gets the chance to mutate.
Israel relaxed almost all its coronavirus-related restrictions in the first weeks of June. However, a recent increase in the Delta strain of the coronavirus forced its Government to mandate indoor masks. It also appointed a manager to check the entry of the virus into the country. The Government also plans to build a permanent testing mechanism in Ben Gurion Airport. In recent days, the UK Government exhorted the country to learn to live with the virus.
