Over 12,400 people in Israel test Covid-19 positive after taking Pfizer vaccine

This means that 6.6 per cent of the 189,000 people who have undergone tests after they were vaccinated by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine still tested positive for the pandemic, according to the health ministry.

This must be seen against the 95 per cent effectiveness that Pfizer-BioNTech claims for its vaccine.  

It is, however, not known whether those showing symptoms of Covid-19 after the vaccine jab had already contacted the disease, or it may have to do with physical or medical conditions of the vaccinated.

Israel launched a vaccination drive on 19 December, primarily focused on the vulnerable – the elderly, those with risky medical conditions and some emergency workers. More than a quarter of its citizens have now received the Pfizer Inc vaccine, health officials say.

Israel got early delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by committing to share with the US-German manufacturer its data on the effects of the mass immunisation.

About 3.5 per cent of the population has already received their second dose as well.

This could also mean that Israel has been conducting clinical trials for Pfizer-BioNTeh in the form of a mass immunisation drive. 

Health officials in Israel, however, have a discounted view of the effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine. Nachman Ash, national coordinator on the pandemic had, earlier, said that Pfizer's vaccine was "less effective than we had thought".

Since the rollout of vaccinations one month ago, the Jewish state had inoculated more than 2.2 million of its nine million inhabitants, health minister Yuli Edelstein said on Tuesday.

Israel, has reported more than half a million cases and 4,005 deaths due to Covid-19 so far. The country also continues to be under the grip of the pandemic and infection rates remain high. 

Health authorities attribute the current spike in infections to virus mutations and disregard by some people of lockdown restrictions.