After Vaccinating 130,000 People Twice... No Severe Cases Reported

Israel "20 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases After Vaccination... All Mild"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] In Israel, where more than 3 out of 10 people have received the COVID-19 vaccine, it has been found that there are no severe cases among those who have completed the second dose.

Yuli Edelstein, Israel's Minister of Health, stated on the 26th (local time) at the parliamentary health committee that "there were no patients showing severe symptoms among those holding vaccination certificates," according to major foreign media reports. The COVID-19 vaccine generally requires two doses. Israel issues a vaccination certificate called the "Green Card" one week after the second dose.

A small number of mild cases occurred among those who received the second dose. Minister Edelstein said, "Only 0.014% of those holding vaccination certificates showed mild symptoms." In fact, the local healthcare organization Maccabi analyzed 20 confirmed cases among second-dose recipients and found that none were hospitalized or had a body temperature above 38.5 degrees Celsius.

According to Maccabi, among approximately 128,000 people in Israel who completed the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, 20 were confirmed to have COVID-19. The infection rate is 0.015%, marking the first time worldwide that an infection rate among second-dose recipients has been reported. Professor Cyril Cohen of Bar-Ilan University, an immunologist, explained, "Considering the infection rate of the general population during the study period (0.65%), the vaccine's effectiveness slightly exceeds the 95% efficacy claimed by Pfizer."

Israel has the fastest vaccination rate in the world. According to the international statistics site Our World in Data, the vaccination rate per 100 people was 46.71% as of the previous day, nearly five times that of the UK (10.79%), which started vaccinations first. Considering that the first and second doses are counted cumulatively, it is analyzed that more than 3 out of 10 people in the population have actually been vaccinated. According to the Wall Street Journal, over 30% of Israel's population has received the first dose, and 14% have completed the second dose.

However, Minister Edelstein stated, "The number of critically ill or severe patients currently under treatment is at an all-time high." In fact, the number of deaths on the 25th was 79, more than five times the 15 deaths recorded a month earlier. Israel reinstated a two-week lockdown from the 8th of this month and extended it until the 31st as the spread was not sufficiently controlled. New confirmed cases exceeded 10,000 on the 20th, then decreased to 4,933 on the 23rd and 3,442 on the 24th, but rose again to 8,962 the day before.