Israeli data indicate that mass vaccinations have resulted in a decrease in severe Covid cases, according to the CDC study

Data from Israel, which has vaccinated the vast majority of its elderly population with Pfizer The Covid-19 vaccine indicates that mass vaccines have prevented people from contracting serious diseases, according to A. New study From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While clinical trials have found that Pfizer-Biotechnology Vaccine to be 95% effective in preventing Covid-19In the Israeli data, it provides an early glimpse of the effectiveness of the vaccine in a realistic, unsupervised environment.

The study, published Friday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Weekly Report on Illness and Mortality, found that among the fraction of the Israeli population that were vaccinated the most, the percentage of patients requiring ventilation decreased dramatically, indicating a decrease in severe illness. .

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev and Tel Aviv University and the Maccabi Health Care Services wrote: “Collectively, these results indicate lower rates of severe Covid-19 infection after vaccination.”

Israel launched its national vaccination campaign in December, with priority given to people 60 years of age or older, health care workers, and people with disease illnesses. By February, researchers said 84% of the population 70 years of age or older had been fully immunized with the Pfizer-BioNTech dual vaccine. And only 10% of the population under the age of 50 were vaccinated at the same time, the researchers said.

Researchers compared the number of Covid-19 patients 70 years of age and older who required a mechanical ventilator and those under 50 who required a ventilator. The researchers said they used the need for a ventilator, a medical instrument used to help patients breathe, to measure severe Covid-19.

Between October and February, the number of patients 70 years of age or older who required a ventilator decreased. At the same time, the study found that the number of people under the age of 50, a group of people who were generally not vaccinated, and who needed a ventilator, increased. The country began giving vaccinations to the elderly mostly on December 20, with a second round of injections three weeks later.

The researchers noted some limitations of the study. Israel implemented a strict stay-at-home order on January 8, weeks after the vaccination campaign began, that would have led to a drop in the number of critically ill patients who needed ventilators. And they said that the introduction of new types of coronavirus may also affect the data.

The researchers said that their findings are preliminary, “important evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing severe cases of COVID-19 at the national level in Israel.”

They write that “receiving COVID-19 vaccines by qualified people can help limit the spread of disease and potentially reduce the incidence of serious diseases.”