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January 24, 20225:12 PM GMT+8Last Updated 9 hours ago
JERUSALEM, Jan 23 (Reuters) – A fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than thrice-vaccinated people in the same age group, Israel’s Health Ministry said on Sunday.
The ministry also said the fourth dose, or second booster, made people over 60 twice as resistant to infection than those in the age group who received three shots of the vaccine.
A preliminary study published by Israel’s Sheba medical centre last Monday found that the fourth shot increases antibodies to even higher levels than the third but “probably” not to the point that it could completely fend off the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Israel began offering a fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine to people over 60 earlier this month as Omicron swept the country.
The ministry said on Sunday the study it conducted with several major Israeli universities and the Sheba centre compared 400,000 people over 60 who received the second booster with 600,000 people in the age group who were given a third shot more than four months ago.
As elsewhere, Israel has seen COVID-19 cases spiral due to Omicron. But it has logged no deaths from the variant.
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Fourth COVID Shot Triples Resistance to Serious Illness in Over-60s, Israel Finds
Analysis based on data from hundreds of thousands of Israelis shows fourth COVID shot significantly increases protection compared to those who got just one booster
Michael Hauser TovReutersHaaretz
Jan. 23, 2022 8:34 PM
A fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than triple-vaccinated people in the same age group, Israel’s Health Ministry said on Sunday.
This number is based on a comparison with those in the same age group who received a third dose at least four months earlier. The ministry said its analysis was based on statistics on some 400,000 people who had received a fourth shot and 600,000 who had received a third shot.
The Health Ministry’s announcement came after the release of the first large U.S. studies led by the Centers for Disease Control to look at vaccine protection against omicron.
The three studies echoed previous research – including studies in Germany, South Africa and the U.K. – indicating available vaccines are less effective against omicron than earlier versions of the coronavirus, but also that boosters significantly improve protection.
The first study looked at hospitalizations and emergency room and urgent care center visits in 10 states, from August to this month. The booster shot seems to be 90 percent effective against hospitalization with the omicron variant, according to the CDC study.
The second study focused on COVID-19 case and death rates in 25 states from the beginning of April through Christmas. People who were boosted had the highest protection against coronavirus infection, both during the time delta was dominant and when omicron was taking over as the dominant strain.
The Journal of the American Medical Association published the third study, also led by CDC researchers. It looked at people who tested positive for COVID-19 from December 10 to January 1 at more than 4,600 testing sites across the U.S.
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