Two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine prevent ‘99.96% of Covid cases’, Israeli study suggests

Ekka Zohar, from the ministry of health in Israel said if a national control group existed then the data would be similar to that found in the study.

Israel is currently experiencing around 1,000 new Covid cases a day - the highest rate the country has seen since the start of the pandemic.

Prof Leshem added that the study found that those who were already vaccinated were not becoming infected.

He said in the “few cases” they had seen, these people had experienced mild symptoms.

He continued: “It's what we call real life, ecologic evidence of vaccine efficacy - the high efficacy of the vaccine.”

The World Health Organisation says that vaccine efficacy results have to be at least 50 per cent for them to be considered to offer protection against Covid.

Israeli officials are providing the team at Pfizer with weekly updates on its vaccine campaign as part of a collaborative effort.

The news of the Pfizer jab’s efficiency comes after it was today announced that the first one dose Covid vaccine is 72 per cent effective.

The Government has already ordered 30million doses of Janssen jab, developed by Johnson & Johnson.

Trials in the US found the jab was 72 per cent effective, while those in South Africa - where the new and more contagious strain is prevalent - found it was 57 per cent effective.

Unlike other Covid-19 jabs, it only needs one dose to provide Covid protection and it can be stored at fridge temperature.

Earlier today it was also reported that the Novavax jab is effective in 89.3 per cent of cases.

The drug, shown in UK trials to be effective against the Kent variant of Covid, was hailed by PM Boris Johnson.