The Israeli Health Ministry reported Thursday the efficacy of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine in preventing infection has dropped to 39% but the effectiveness in preventing severe illness still remains relatively high.

The report adds the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing serious illness has also dropped and now stands at 91%. The efficacy in preventing hospitalizations among vaccinated now stands at 88%.

5,770 people diagnosed with Covid-19 were fully vaccinated, 495 patients were hospitalized, 334 were hospitalized in a serious condition, and 123 died.

Ynet news report

Update 1:

Israel has already begun administering a third dose of Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine to adults with compromised immune systems.

Update 2:

In a separate surprising development, Israel has said it is moving away from the Pfizer vaccine and over to the Moderna vaccine

Update 3:

This Jerusalem Post article gives a credible explanation as to why Israel is reporting vaccine efficacy numbers that are different to those published by recent British studies:

“It is beginning to become clear that vaccine immunity begins to wane after about six months. The Israeli study showed that for people vaccinated more than six months ago, the effectiveness of the vaccine at stopping coronavirus dropped to as low as 16%.”

UK: vaccine breakthroughs now nearly HALF of all new Covid-19 cases

The UK announces its winter Covid plans

Image by jorono from Pixabay