delta variant in Israel in recent weeks, according to the country’s health ministry, but provided a strong shield against hospitalization and more severe forms of the virus.
The vaccine provided 88% protection against hospitalization and 91.4% against severe illness for an unspecified number of people studied between June 20 and July 17, according to a report Thursday from the health ministry.
The report said that the data could be skewed because of different ways of testing vaccinated groups of people versus those who hadn’t been inoculated.
The delta variant first emerged in India and is spreading around the globe as governments race to inoculate people, sometimes infecting those already fully vaccinated against Covid.