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This first field study, the results of which were published in the peer-reviewed journal The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, also showed the likely high level of protection of vaccinated people against infection. This would be a very important element to stop the spread of the virus.
“The fact that vaccines work so well in real-world conditions … really shows that if the nations of the world are willing enough, we now have the means to complete COVID-19 permanently,” said Ben Neumann, virologist at Texas A&M. University that did not participate in the study.
The experiment was carried out from December 20, 2020 to February 1, 2021, when a new strain of covoronavirus, first identified in the UK, spread significantly in Israel. This makes the effect of the vaccine even more impressive.
Approximately 1.2 million people were divided into two groups of vaccinated and unvaccinated of equal size. Each vaccinated participant was compared to an unvaccinated “control” person of the same sex, age, and similar geographic, medical, and other characteristics.
The lead author of the article, Noam Barda, head of epidemiology and research at the Clalit Research Institute’s health foundation, told AFP news agency that the harmonization process was very thorough.
For example, an elderly ultra-Orthodox Jew from a certain area, with certain medical symptoms, vaccinated against the flu, was compared with another person with the same data.
The researchers then recorded the situation 14 to 20 days after the first dose of the vaccine and on the seventh day or after the second dose of the vaccine.
The effectiveness in preventing infection with symptoms of the disease was 57 percent. 14 to 20 days after the first dose and increased to 94%. on the seventh day after the second dose. This figure is very close to 95 percent. efficacy established in phase 3 clinical trials.
Subjects who received a second dose of vaccine were also very well protected from hospitalization and death from COVID-19, although the exact numbers are less significant due to the relatively low incidence of such events and showed a wider statistical range.
The study also found that people who received the second dose of the vaccine had a 92% chance of becoming infected, with or without symptoms. lower compared to unvaccinated people.
Although this conclusion is considered very promising, the researchers and experts say that more data is needed to support it, as the participants were not systematically and regularly evaluated; Tests were performed when the subjects requested them.
The study authors tried to compensate for this with statistical methods, but the result is probably not perfect yet.
“If you don’t check everything all the time, you’ll miss infections,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistics specialist at the University of Florida.
She added that she was confident that the vaccines provide good protection, but added that “this number will require specialized testing methods and frequent testing.”
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