Two Pfizer vaccine doses give over 95% protection

Two Pfizer vaccine doses give over 95% protection

Two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provide more than 95 per cent protection against infection, hospitalisation, severe illness and death, including among the elderly, according to the first national-level observational assessment of its effectiveness in Israel, published in The Lancet, a reputed medical journal.

The peer-reviewed analysis, based on de-identified national data, also reveals for the first time the public health benefits of a national vaccination programme, which was found to be the key driver of a decline in Covid-19 infections in Israel, the journal reported on Wednesday.

It added that while the findings are encouraging, the authors stress that a number of challenges to controlling the pandemic remain. The duration of immunity – both from infection and immunisation – remains unknown, and it is possible that new, vaccine-resistant variants could emerge in the future.