KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21– Israel, the world’s leading country in the Covid-19 vaccination race, said a single dosage of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is likely to provide less protection.
Israel’s coronavirus tsar, Nachman Ash, said that the single dose of Pfizer vaccine is less effective than what it was expected, according to the Guardian.
However, the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer Hospital, the largest hospital in Israel, stated that patients who completed a full cycle of Pfizer vaccination had increased their antibodies up to six to 12 times.
In Israel, a total of two million people have taken the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine, while 400,000 of them have already completed the Covid-19 vaccination by taking the second shot as well.
It is to be noted that, generally, a single dose of vaccine is less effective when there are two or more doses to be taken to complete the vaccination process. As the first dosage of vaccine takes time to boost antibodies, the second dose can trigger different responses and supercharge the protection.
As of yesterday, Israel has reported breaking 10,213 new Covid-19 cases in the country, whereby 20 to 30 per cent of the cases were infected by a new coronavirus variant.
Following that, Ash reportedly warned the government that the new variant will lead to a major Covid-19 outbreak in the country in the next few weeks.
“We are in a tight race between the vaccination campaign and the high infection rates in the world due to the mutation,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying.
Currently the country is witnessing its third lockdown by closing down all the international entrance and allowing essential flights only.
Israelis also alleged that neglectful police officers in that country have allowed large social gatherings such as weddings and opening of some schools have led to the rise in the daily reported Covid-19 cases in the country.
This community which was described as “ultra-Orthodox” is said to be impacted significantly by the new variant of coronavirus.
Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the country’s Health Ministry’s public health department, stated that a Covid-19 infected person who returned from the United Kingdom has transmitted the virus to 20 to 30 people in Israel.
“We’re seeing very significant and rapid infections and it’s really a race between this and the vaccine,” Alroy-Preis was quoted as saying.
