BioNTech jab 97% effective against symptomatic cases

By Rabia Iclal Turan

ANKARA (AA) - US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German biotech partner BioNTech announced Thursday that the real-world data by the Israeli Health Ministry demonstrates their vaccine’s "high effectiveness," in preventing COVID-19.

The latest analysis by the Israeli Health Ministry using the public health data between Jan. 17 and March 6 showed that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was at least 97% effective at preventing asymptomatic infections two weeks after the second vaccine dose.

The analysis also found that the vaccine’s effectiveness was 94% against asymptomatic coronavirus infections.

“These findings are also important, as the data were generated at a time when the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 (also known as UK variant of coronavirus) was the dominant strain,” co-founder and CEO of BioNTech Ugur Sahin said in a written statement.