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Post by Admin on Feb 15, 2021 20:15:55 GMT
Israel’s largest healthcare provider on Sunday reported a 94% drop in symptomatic COVID-19 infections among 600,000 people who received two doses of the Pfizer’s vaccine in the country’s biggest study to date.
Health maintenance organization (HMO) Clalit, which covers more than half of all Israelis, said the same group was also 92% less likely to develop severe illness from the virus.
The comparison was against a group of the same size, with matching medical histories, who had not received the vaccine.
“It shows unequivocally that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is extremely effective in the real world a week after the second dose, just as it was found to be in the clinical study,” said Ran Balicer, Clalit’s chief innovation officer.
He added that the data indicates the Pfizer vaccine, which was developed in partnership with Germany’s BioNTech, is even more effective two weeks or more after the second shot.
Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, who have been tabulating national data, said on Sunday that a sharp decline in hospitalisation and serious illness identified earlier among the first age group to be vaccinated - aged 60 or older - was seen for the first time in those aged 55 and older.
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Post by Admin on Mar 17, 2021 6:45:23 GMT
Former President Trump on Tuesday recommended that all eligible Americans get the coronavirus vaccine when their opportunity comes, though he added a caveat that he also respects people's decisions to not get one. Trump had faced growing calls to encourage his supporters — especially Republican men who have voiced cynicism about the vaccine — to get vaccinated. "I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it. And a lot of those people voted for me, frankly. But, you know, again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also," Trump said during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. "But it's a great vaccine, it's a safe vaccine, and it's something that works," Republicans and supporters of the former president are the least likely to seek a vaccine for the coronavirus, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey revealed last week. Almost half of Republican men, 47% of Trump supporters and 41% of Republicans overall said they would not get a vaccine if one is made available to them. Only 30% of adults overall say they would not get one. Trump's endorsement of the vaccine comes as many of his supporters have embraced baseless and dangerous conspiracies about the coronavirus, some of which the president encouraged. Trump and former first lady, Melania, who both dealt with a bout of COVID-19 last year, received the vaccine in private sometime before leaving office, but had not publicly encouraged people to get it. President Biden and several other politicians, including former Vice President Mike Pence, were publicly vaccinated to help promote the safety and effectiveness of the shot.
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Post by Admin on Mar 26, 2021 19:04:22 GMT
Pfizer starts COVID-19 vaccine trial with children l GMA
The pharmaceutical company is following in the steps of Moderna and beginning to test its vaccine on younger children, from ages five to 11.
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Post by Admin on Apr 16, 2021 19:30:59 GMT
Pfizer CEO says COVID-19 booster shot will likely be necessary l GMA
The head of the pharmaceutical company said that fully vaccinated people will likely need another jab within 12 months, with potential annual follow-up shots, in order to protect against the virus.
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Post by Admin on May 10, 2021 22:44:18 GMT
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that children 12 to 15 years old are now eligible to receive a key COVID-19 vaccine as the agency expanded its emergency use authorization for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting FDA commissioner, said the expansion "brings us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy." "Parents and guardians can rest assured that the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available data, as we have with all of our COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations," Woodcock said. Until now, the Pfizer vaccine had been authorized only for people age 16 and older. Pfizer asked the FDA to broaden its emergency use authorization for the vaccine after announcing in late March that clinical trials found "100% efficacy and robust antibody responses" in study participants who were 12 to 15. The FDA first granted Pfizer's request for an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in December. It got federal approval to include children as young as 12 in its vaccine trial in October. All three makers of U.S.-authorized vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — are studying the safety and effectiveness of their vaccines in children, including as young as 6 months. Johnson & Johnson said last week that its vaccine "will initially be tested in a small number of adolescents, which will be expanded to a larger group in a step-wise approach, if initial data shows an acceptable safety profile." Those expanded trials started last month when J&J vaccine shots were given to teens from 16 to 17. If all goes well, the trial will include kids as young as 12, the company said.
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