Coronavirus vaccine 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic infections, says Pfizer

• Pfizer and BioNTech say real-world data from Israel suggests that their COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective.
• The claim suggests the vaccine could significantly reduce transmission.
• Latest analysis of Israeli data shows vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease.

The real-world data from Israel suggests that the COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic infections, meaning the vaccine could significantly reduce transmission, Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday.

The companies also said the latest analysis of the Israeli data shows the vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease, severe disease, and death. That is basically in line with the 95% efficacy Pfizer and BioNTech reported from the vaccine’s late-stage clinical trial in December.

According to the analysis, unvaccinated individuals were 44 times more likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19 and 29 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who had received the vaccine.

The data, collected between January 17 and March 6, has not yet been peer reviewed.