A new study out of Israel suggests that the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is pretty effective, according to The Wall Street Journal.
What’s going on?
A new study from Sheba Medical Centre in Israel found that the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is 85% effective after 15 to 28 days, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- The study — published in The Lancet — found the vaccine was 85% effective in stopping symptomatic COVID-19 cases.
- However, the study found it was 75% effective against stopping asymptomatic cases, per The Hill.
- However, the study does not determine how long the protection will last.
Why it matters
Per The Hill, the study comes as experts debate whether to delay second doses for people so that more people can get first doses of the vaccine. However, researchers worry that delaying a second dose could allow variants to spread, which could impact the overall effectiveness of vaccines.
- “Early reductions of COVID-19 rates provide support of delaying the second dose in countries facing vaccine shortages and scarce resources, so as to allow higher population coverage with a single dose,” the authors write in The Lancet, according to The Hill. “Longer follow-up to assess long-term effectiveness of a single dose is needed to inform a second dose delay policy.”
One more note
Per Reuters, a pre-published study by the Israeli Health Ministry and Pfizer found the vaccine could reduce infection for asymptomatic cases by 89.4% and symptomatic cases by 93.7%.