Edited by: TJVNews.com

As the Delta variant of the Covid virus continues to spread throughout Israel, on Monday, the country’s health ministry reported that a decrease has been noted in terms of the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in preventing infections and symptomatic illness. It did say, however, that the vaccine remained highly effective in preventing serious illness, according to a Reuters report.

The Boston Globe reported that yhe Israeli Ministry of Health announced that an epidemiological analysis had found that since June 6th there was a “marked decline in the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine in preventing infection (64%) and symptomatic illness (64%).”

“This decline has been observed simultaneously with the spread of the Delta variant in Israel,” the ministry said in a statement. “The vaccine maintains an efficacy rate of about 93% in preventing serious illness and hospitalization cases,” the officials emphasized at the same time.

Reuters reported that ministry officials had published a report in May that two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine provided more than 95% protection against infection, hospitalization, and severe illness.

A Pfizer spokesperson declined to comment on the data from Israel, but cited other research showing that antibodies elicited by the vaccine were still able to neutralize all tested variants, including Delta, albeit at reduced strength, according to the Reuters report.

Reuters also reported that about 60% of Israel’s 9.3 million population have received at least one shot of Pfizer’s vaccine in a campaign that saw daily cases drop from more than 10,000 in January to single digits last month.

As a result, Israel eased nearly all social distancing as well as the requirement to wear masks, though the latter was partially reimposed in recent days, as was reported by Reuters, At the same time Delta, which has become a globally dominant variant of the coronavirus, began to spread.

On June 20th, the Times of Israel reported that 44 children at a middle school in northern Israel tested positive for coronavirus, in the second such outbreak at an Israeli school in that week. The first outbreak occurred in Modiin earlier in the week.

According to Kan news, initial tests indicated the outbreaks were all linked to the Delta variant first identified in India, which is more contagious than other variants and may be better able to bypass vaccines. The report said several adults who were infected in the school outbreaks were vaccinated, according to the TOI report.

“The data indicates contagion from returnees from abroad in recent days and not because of a local outbreak,” the town’s local council wrote on its Facebook page, without elaborating further.

Professor Nadav Davidovitch, who sits on the government’s expert advisory committee on the coronavirus, told the Financial Times the new finding was based on “preliminary” figures gathered by health authorities, as was reported by the Boston Globe. “Delta is a lot more infectious, but appears to not lead to as much serious illness and death, especially given that we now have the vaccine,” he said.

The Pfizer vaccine is one of the two major vaccines being administered in the United States. And the Delta variant is on the rise here. Officials have cited the danger of the variant as they have urged people to get their shots.

Reuters reported that data scientist Eran Segal of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science said the country was unlikely to experience the high levels of hospitalizations seen earlier in the year since there were much fewer critically ill.

He said it was fine to “continue with life back to normal and without restrictions” while stepping up measures like vaccination outreach and ensuring testing for Israelis returning home from abroad, as was reported by Reuters.

Andy Slavitt, formerly a senior adviser to President Biden’s pandemic response team, said in a series of tweets that the news is “worth paying attention to” because it could affect when Americans need to get booster shots, as was reported by the Boston Globe.

The Boston Globe also reported that Slavitt said the data was “very preliminary” and “could be an outlier. But if the data hold, the most likely conclusion is not that Delta is escaping the vaccine. … Instead it’s possible that this is a signal that immunity could simply be waning in certain populations. Recall that Israelis vaccinated before the US. So our first sign of a vaccine waning will likely be seen in Israel.”

“People who take from this there is no point in getting vaccinated because they aren’t perfect are quickly running the exact wrong direction,” he said. “The US is prepared. Deaths & hospitalizations are preventable with vaccinations even if or when they wane. … Not getting vaccinated is the real risk. Every day it becomes even clearer.”

Some experts were cautious about the Israeli finding.

Haaretz reported that Ran Balicer, chief of the professional coronavirus cabinet which advises Israel’s coronavirus cabinet said that there were “enormous methodological challenges in properly assessing the efficacy of the vaccine from local outbreaks.”

Speaking to the Times of Israel, Balicer said that it was “too early to precisely assess vaccine effectiveness against the variant.”

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, tweeted that, in speaking to colleagues in Israel, he had found “real skepticism about [the] 64% number,” according to the report in the Boston Globe.

He said the finding “may turn out to be right,” but the “best data still suggest” mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines offer a “high degree” of protection against infection and “superb protection” against severe illness.

The “bulk of evidence says vaccines work very well against Delta,” he said.

A Pfizer spokesperson told Fox News didn’t comment on the Israeli data but said other research suggested the vaccine was able to neutralize tested variants, including Delta, The neutralization was efficient but “modesty reduced relative to previous strains,” the company said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that top Israeli officials are set to meet to discuss enacting a series of more measures aimed at helping to stop the spread of the Delta variant. In late June, Israel’s government expanded its vaccination campaign to include all 12- to 15-year-olds, due to a large portion of new infections occurring in that age range.

With more than 80% of Israeli adults fully vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, Israeli health officials are paying greater attention to how many develop serious illness, according to the WSJ report. That number currently stands at 33, with the majority coming from the elderly immunocompromised population, according to health officials.

The WSJ also reported that data from the U.K. suggest vaccines retain much of their potency against Delta, especially after two doses. The U.K. is experiencing a surge in infections caused by the variant, but the latest wave hasn’t stretched hospitals or pushed up deaths to the same extent as previous bursts of disease.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Eyal Leshem, director of the Sheba Hospital’s Center for Travel Medicine and Tropical Diseases, said the Israeli Health Ministry study was congruent with evidence from the U.K. and other countries that showed the vaccine is less effective against the Delta variant.

Bloomberg News reported that the Israeli prime minister’s office said that the government plans to study vaccinated individuals who contracted the coronavirus, including factors such as age, pre-existing conditions and inoculation dates, in order to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine and the rate at which it wears off.

The government is considering reinstating additional restrictions after restoring a mandate to wear masks indoors in public spaces. No decision has been on recommending a third dose of vaccine, the health ministry said, according to the Bloomberg report.

In a related development, the AP reported that Israel is sending 700,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to South Korea in exchange for a future shipment of vaccines from South Korea to Israel.

Under the deal, Israel will transfer the Pfizer vaccines to South Korea in an effort to inoculate more of the Asian nation’s citizens this month. South Korea will send the same number of doses to Israel as early as September, the officials added, as was reported by AP.

“This is a win-win deal,” Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in his statement. The agreement will “reduce the holes” in the vaccine’s availability.

Jung Eun-kyeong, South Korea’s top infectious disease expert, confirmed the deal. She said the Seoul government will continue to pursue swap deals with other countries.

“We are expecting to have a sufficient number of vaccines during the fourth quarter while we proceed with our vaccination campaign,” said Jung, director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

AP reported that in addition to Israel, South Korea is also reporting a surge in new infections. South Korea topped 700 new cases of COVID-19 for the fourth straight day on Tuesday. Israel was seeing the most new infections in three months, with the delta variant driving the trend, the government says. Both governments are considering ways to curb the virus’ spread.

South Korea has so far administered first doses to just 30% of its population. Israel has fully vaccinated nearly 5.3 million people of its population of 9.3 million, as was reported by AP.

Bennett said the agreement, which he personally negotiated with Pfizer CEO Albert Burla, is the first of its kind between Israel and another country, according to the AP report. The Israeli vaccines still need to be tested after their arrival in South Korea, he added.

The deal comes a few weeks after the Palestinian Authority, called off a deal to receive 1 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from Israel. The Palestinians contended that the vaccines were too close to expiring and didn’t meet their standards.