Israel sees steep drop in Pfizer vaccine efficacy rate: Report

At the same time, protection against hospitalisation and serious illness remained strong

Israel has recorded a steep drop in the efficacy rate of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE in preventing coronavirus infections, due to the spread of the delta variant and the easing of government restrictions, Ynet news website reported, citing Health Ministry data.

At the same time, the decline in protection against serious cases and hospitalization is considerably milder, the website said. There was no immediate comment from the ministry.

The figures show that between May 2 and June 5, the vaccine had a 94.3 per cent efficacy rate. From June 6, five days after the government canceled coronavirus restrictions, until early