email article Since starting a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination program with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, rates of mechanical ventilation dropped about two-thirds among older adults with the disease in Israel, researchers found. Rates of mechanical ventilation among COVID-19 patients age 70 and older declined 67% from fall 2020 to February 2021 compared to COVID-19 patients younger than age 50, reported Yair Lewis, MD, PhD, of Maccabi Healthcare Services in Tel Aviv, and colleagues in the "These findings provide preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing severe cases of COVID-19 at the national level in Israel," the authors added. Since COVID-19 vaccines were authorized by the FDA, researchers continue to emphasize the message that vaccines cut rates of severe disease. That's been shown in all the vaccine trials reported thus far. But real-world data have been lacking.