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The Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine offers more protection than previously thought with an effectiveness in preventing symptomatic illness reaching 97%, based on real-world evidence published by pharmaceutical companies.
Using data from January 17 to March 6 from Israel’s national vaccination campaign, Pfizer / BioNTech found that prevention against asymptomatic diseases also reached 94%.
A previous real-world study using data between December 20, 2020 and February 1, 2021 had shown efficacy in preventing symptomatic disease by 94% and asymptomatic disease by 92%.
“This comprehensive real-world evidence … may be of importance to countries around the world as they advance their own vaccination campaigns one year after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic.” the two drug companies said in a statement.
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Israel’s vaccination campaign is the fastest in the world, with around 40% of the population already fully vaccinated against the virus.
Israel, which launched its vaccination campaign in December, has given the recommended two injections of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to just under four million of its roughly nine million people.
More than five million have received a single injection.
“Incidence rates in the fully vaccinated population have fallen massively compared to the unvaccinated population, showing a marked decrease in hospitalized cases due to COVID-19,” said Israel Health Ministry Director Yeheskel Levy.
Risk of blood clots ‘not higher’ in vaccinated people: EMA
The European drug regulator said there did not appear to be an increased risk of blood clots in those vaccinated against Covid-19, after Denmark, Norway and Iceland suspended the use of the AstraZeneca jab.
“The information available so far indicates that the number of thromboembolic events in vaccinated people is not higher than that observed in the general population,” the European Medicines Agency told AFP by email when asked about the suspension.
The Amsterdam-based regulator said it understood the Danish decision “was taken as a precaution.”
The EMA said the decision followed the regulator’s announcement yesterday that it was “reviewing reported thromboembolic events in temporary association with the vaccine” after the case reports in Austria.
The regulator said it “will continue its assessment and EMA will communicate the updates as soon as possible,” the agency said.
In its announcement on Austria yesterday, the EMA had said that there were 22 ‘thromboembolic events’ among the three million people who received the vaccine in the European Economic Area, which includes Norway and Iceland.
The Danish suspension, to be reviewed after two weeks, is expected to slow down the country’s vaccination campaign.
Austria said on Monday it had suspended the use of a batch of AstraZeneca vaccines after a 49-year-old nurse died of “severe blood clotting problems” days after receiving an anti-Covid injection.
Four other European countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg, have also suspended the use of vaccines from this batch, which was shipped to 17 European countries and consisted of one million injections.
However, Denmark suspended use of its entire AstraZeneca supply, as did Iceland and Norway in subsequent announcements on Thursday citing similar concerns.
Earlier this week, the Health Products Regulatory Authority of Ireland said it is closely following the Austrian investigation.
The HPRA said there is currently “no evidence of a causal relationship” between the vaccine and the events and the suspension of a specific lot is a “precautionary action by the Austrian regulator pending further investigation.”
The UK government has championed the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
“We have made it clear that it is safe and effective … and when people are asked to come forward and accept it, they should do so in confidence,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters.
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