A new research by the Clalit Research Institute and Tel Aviv University shows that that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offers lower protection against the South African coronavirus variant than against the British coronavirus variant.
The research, published Saturday evening, showed that the South African variant succeeded in penetrating to a degree the protection offered by two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
At this stage it is difficult to assess how great the reduction in efficacy is.
However, the researchers estimate that the vaccine still provides significant, even if reduced, protection against the South African variant.
The new research is in line with previous studies by researchers from Ben Gurion University and the University of Texas Medical Branch, both of which showed the vaccine to be effective, but less so, against the South African strain.