Over 40% of infections in Israel occur in people who are fully vaccinated

OVER 40% of new infections in Israel occur in people who are fully vaccinated. Data from the Israeli Ministry of Health have revealed a correlation between patients infected with the Delta variant of the coronavirus and people who were vaccinated in the first place, around the month of January, which could have its origin in a decrease in vaccine effectiveness from six months after inoculation.

The former director-general of health in Israel has publicly assured that between 40% and 50% of the new infections detected occurred in people who were fully vaccinated, as reported by 20 Minutos. Experts from the Ministry itself have warned, however, that it is still too early to draw conclusions due to the small sample and also emphasize that most of the people vaccinated in the first place were of advanced age and that therefore they had a weaker immune system. However, this phenomenon was completely predictable and, in fact, confirms the ability of vaccines to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and especially against severe forms of Covid-19.

Currently available vaccines, effective as they are in preventing serious forms of Covid-19 including hospitalizations and death, cannot protect 100% of those vaccinated against the infection. A large study of the Israeli population, conducted from late January 2021 to early April and published in The Lancet, estimated the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at 95.3% against the risk of infection for fully vaccinated people. This means that just under 5% of those vaccinated may still be infected with SARS-CoV-2. The figure could even rise in the case of the Delta variant, which is believed to be more contagious than the Alpha variant, which was dominant at the time of the study.