First Pfizer COVID Vaccine Shot Cuts Risk of Infection by 50 Percent: Study

First Pfizer COVID Vaccine Shot Cuts Risk of Infection by 50 Percent: Study

The Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine reduces the risk of infection by around 50 percent 14 days after the first of two shots is administered, preliminary data from Israel's mass vaccination program suggests.Sharon Alroy-Preis, a top official in the Israeli health ministry, told the country's Channel 12 News that the conclusions were based on the results of hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests.Israel is currently leading the world in terms of vaccination, vaccinating nearly a fifth of its population.

Around two million people have received vaccinations in the small Middle Eastern nation, with more than five million Israelis set to receive shots by March, if a plan developed by the country's health ministry goes smoothly.Alroy-Preis said that around one-fifth of more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients in the country with serious disease had already received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, highlighting the importance of taking precautions between doses."Seventeen percent of the new serious cases today, or 180 cases, are after the first dose," Alroy-Preis told reporters.The Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine has been shown to reduce an individual's risk of developing COVID-19 by 95 percent. But this level of protection—and long-lasting immunity—is only reached more than a week or so after the second dose. This second