Israeli study finds Pfizer vaccine 85pc effective after first shot
The first dose of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine is 85 percent effective, a study of healthcare workers at an Israeli hospital has found, potentially fuelling a debate over the recommended two-dose schedule as governments try to stretch out supplies.
The Sheba Medical Center’s findings compare with overall efficacy of around 95 percent in a two-dose regimen 21 days apart for the shot developed with Germany’s BioNTech.
The Sheba study, to be published in The Lancet medical journal, comes a day after Canadian researchers suggested that the second Pfizer dose be delayed given the high level of protection from the first shot in order to increase the number of people getting vaccinated.
Their research showed efficacy of 92.6 percent after the first dose, based on an analysis of the docume...