Very positive vaccine news: Israeli HMO Maccabi reports just 20 positive coronavirus tests out of 128,000 people who had their second Pfizer shot a week or more ago. None of the 20 were serious cases.

The HMO says most of the 20 were tested due to a known exposure to a confirmed Covid-19 case. Most were over 55. Half had a preexisting condition. None had a fever over 38.5°C. None needed hospitalisation.

Not all 128k were tested, only people with known exposures or symptoms. So the real number is probably a little higher. But most of the 128k will be over 60, because they got vaccinated first. This suggests the vaccine is extremely effective.

Awaiting more details on this, to see if we're talking about 20 symptomatic cases or, even better, 20 cases total with positive PCR tests. The first would be great, the second would be amazing.

Worth pointing out, too, that Israel is in the midst of its worst Covid-19 wave so far, with around 10% test positivity.

Final point: 40-50% of Israel's Covid-19 cases are the B117 "British" variant. So this is also good news about the vaccine's ability to protect from that mutation.

UPDATE: Israel's Health Ministry, which has data for all HMOs, says that of 428,000 people who are a week or more from their second dose, just 63 have tested positive for the virus. That's an almost identical proportion to the Maccabi sub-set.