More than 99 per cent of those given a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed immunity against the virus and did not get infected after receiving the jab.
Just around 0.9 per cent of over 186,000 people given a dose of the vaccine contracted the virus after being inoculated, according to information supplied by the health authorities on Thursday. By Friday evening, the number of doses had shot up to over 200,000.
Since the rollout kicked off in December, details on the real impact of the vaccine have been scant. The authorities had previously said it was too early to provide such information as the numbers were still too small.
According to a health ministry spokesperson, 0.9 per cent of all those who took the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine got infected after more than 14 days after the first dose.
The rate was even lower when looking at those infected after receiving the second Pfizer dose. Only 0.6 per cent of those in this group tested positive for COVID-19.
Immunity from the vaccines takes 14 days to kick in.
None of those given both doses of the Moderna vaccine contracted the virus, the spokesperson said.
And for AstraZeneca, the numbers are even more impressive – only 0.4 per cent of those who took the first dose of this vaccine got infected after 14 days of taking it.
Details on the impact of the second AstraZeneca dose will be available once the booster shots start being administered, the spokesperson said.
By Saturday, the authorities had given out more than 209,000 doses of which 57,000 were second doses.
Patients getting vaccinated are given doses by one of three approved manufacturers – Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
All three require second doses for those vaccinated to be fully inoculated.
Second doses of the AstraZeneca jab have yet to start being administered since health authorities have had to wait 10 to 12 weeks from the first dose before giving the booster shot.
The three vaccines approved by the EU had varying efficacy in the clinical trials carried out last year. While Pfizer’s was found to be around 95 per cent, Moderna’s stood at 94.1 per cent. Efficacy for AstraZeneca was found to be around 60 per cent.
The recently approved vaccine by Johnson and Johnson has an efficacy of 67 per cent.
On Thursday, Pfizer said its vaccine is preventing around 91 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the first six months since people started getting the jab.