Pfizer shot less effective against South African variant of COVID: Study

JERUSALEM: A real-world data study conducted by institutes from Israel found that the variant of SARS-CoV-2 discovered in South Africa can “break through” Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to some extent. In the research, the South African variant, B.1.351, was found to make up about 1 per cent of all the COVID-19 cases across all the people studied.

The study was conducted by theTel Aviv University and Israel’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit, where almost 400 people were compared, including who had tested positive for COVID-19, 14 days or more after they had received one or two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics.

The research found that the variant’s prevalence rate was eight times higher among patients who had received two doses of the vaccine as compared to those who were unvaccinated. Adi Stern from Tel Aviv University commented that this discovery hinted that that the South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine’s protection. However, the prevalence of the variant in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed.

Till date, Israel has vaccinated around 53 per cent of its population with both the doses. It has largely reopened its economy in recent weeks while the pandemic appears to be receding, with infection rates, severe illness and hospitalizations dropping sharply.