A variant of the COVID-19 which was first discovered in the UK and South Africa are reportedly able to partially “breakthrough” the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine based on a new study by a team of Israeli scientists as far as the efficacy of the vaccine goes.
However, the finding is yet to be peer-reviewed which still make it a speculation.
The study was released on Saturday which compared the incidences of both variants between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients who had tested positive for the Coronavirus.
In the study which was conducted by researchers at the Tel Aviv University and Israel healthcare provider Clalit was able to track some 400 cases and counted both partially vaccinated (one dose) and those who were fully vaccinated (two dose) patients.
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The findings showed that the South African variant of the coronavirus dubbed B.1.351 was found to be eight times more prevalent among vaccinated patients while the UK strain, B.1.1.7 was even more prevalent among patients who were partially vaccinated even though those that were fully vaccinated had an increase chance of being protected against the UK variant of the coronavirus.
The study suggests that the Pfizer vaccine provides less protection against the South African variant unlike the original coronavirus but it’s unable to actually conclude that because it’s focused on those who have already tested positive for the virus and not the total infection rates.
As of now, nearly 80% of Israel’s population is vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccines. 53% of those have also received the complete dose of the vaccine and the study found that only 1% of total cases in the study were the South African variant.
Israel is the most vaccinated country in the world but that number doesn’t account for Palestinians however, there was a report of a Palestinian student studying at Tel Aviv University in Israel winning the right to be vaccinated after being initially denied the right but then filed a lawsuit.
Israel has just recently begun to vaccinate Palestinians.
The general efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in preventing the coronavirus is about 91% which is said to in turn also prevent the spread of the B.1.351 strain.
Earlier lab trials had suggested that the vaccine provides some protection against the strain, but not full protection.
