Israeli study says extra Covid booster reduces risk of death by another 75%

The first major real-world data shows that a fourth Covid hit reduces the risk of people over 60 dying from the virus by nearly three-quarters.

Israeli research has raised concerns that the UK launch, which currently only targets users over 75, may need to be expanded to younger groups.

The analysis of 260,000 Israelis compared the effects of the fourth injection with the third dose given at least four months ago.

It found that additional recall reduced the risk of hospitalization by an additional 62%.

Dr. Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, said the findings suggest it would be beneficial for the UK to follow Israel’s lead and expand its spring recall program to people over 60.

“I think it should be distributed to everyone, young and old,” he said.

But other experts said the benefits would only save a few lives, as the protection against the original Covid booster dose was already so high.

As the world falters with the spread of the Omicron variant, Israel became the first country to offer a fourth dose of Covid vaccine late last year.

Dr. Because of the current six-month gap between injections, most people over the age of 60 won’t be eligible to receive a fourth dose until May or June, Clarke said.

He added that the results of the Israeli analysis were encouraging and showed the benefits of maintaining public immunity.

“We must continue to increase immunity at the population level, especially for the most vulnerable,” he said.

“We’re actually trying to fill a leaky bucket.”

Experts from the Clalit Research Institute and Harvard University in Israel compared the Covid results of 182,122 over 60 years old who received the fourth injection with 72,505 over 60 years old who received only three doses.

The people who took the fourth hit did too in January and February of this year.

They were matched with someone in the third dose group based on things like gender and pre-existing health conditions.

In addition to increased protection against death, people who took a fourth dose were 62% less likely to become seriously ill with Covid and 68% less likely to go to the hospital for virus symptoms.

The team also calculated that people who received the extra injection were 45% less likely to test positive for Covid in a PCR test and 55% less likely to have a symptomatic case of the virus.

All of these data are based on percentages up to 30 days after receiving the injection.

The authors of the analysis concluded: “The fourth dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine was effective in reducing the risk of short-term Covid-related outcomes in subjects who received a third dose at least four months ago.

While the number of hospitalizations due to Covid in the fourth dose group was 86.6 per 100,000 people, it was 266.7 per 100,000 people in the control group.

Severe Covid rates in the supplemental vaccine dose group were 42.1 per 100,000 compared to 110.8 per 100,000 in the third dose cohort.

The findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine †

The rationale behind multiple Covid vaccines is that the extra shots force the body to maintain immunity and prepare the body to fight it.

However, British experts said that while the numbers sound impressive, the details are a little more nuanced.

Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that the three doses of Covid vaccines are already highly effective and that further protection against 74 deaths will result in only a relatively small number of deaths being prevented.

“If 95/100 people are spared serious consequences after three doses, the 74% increase is just three or four people,” he said.

“Useful, but not the same as the first pandemic”.

But he added that he would like to see all the details of who died in the Israeli investigation, as it could reveal more about the protection of at-risk groups, such as those with certain health conditions.

Professor Jones said it’s too early to say whether these data support a similar massive fourth-dose launch in the UK to people over 60.

“The data show that the higher the immunity, the better the outcome, but it is difficult to assess whether the overall coverage or a targeted approach to those most at risk is more effective,” he said.

“As immunity declines, the current limit of ’75+ and vulnerable’ for the fourth dose needs to be reconsidered.

“But it’s not easy to tell whether cases are decreasing now or later, perhaps before winter,” he said.

This map shows the number of Covid vaccine doses administered in countries per 100 inhabitants, the darker the green, the more doses given per person.

The UK is currently launching a fourth dose of Covid vaccines, a spring supplement for people over 75, nursing home residents of all ages and those with weakened immune systems, such as some cancer patients.

These groups can benefit from Spring Booster if six months have passed since the first booster injection.

Health leaders also plan to launch another booster round this fall. An additional vaccine may be offered to millions of adults.

Like other experts, Professor Jones argued that instead of extra doses in the UK, Covid vaccines could be used better in other parts of the world, helping to prevent new variants of the virus, for example.

“There are two reasons to start elsewhere to protect affected populations, for humanitarian reasons and to reduce transmission of the virus in general, making it less likely to develop variants that could threaten people who are otherwise already vaccinated,” he said.

Global vaccine data collected by Our World in Data shows that while many countries administer multiple doses to 100 populations, countries in Africa and the Middle East lag behind.

There are currently 207 doses for every 100 people in the UK, meaning the majority of the population has two Covid vaccines.

By comparison, the Democratic Republic of the Congo only gave one dose to every 100 people.

According to the most recent data available, around 1.6 million people in the UK have taken a spring supplement.

Epidemiologist Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, said the new Israeli study only followed patients for a month, so it’s unclear whether the increase in protection will continue after that time, decreasing much like previous shots.

“The fourth dose restores protection for at least a few weeks, but the real question is how long. Will it follow what we’ve seen in the UK and lose its effectiveness for about three months?” said.

“I suspect we’ll see a similar drop in activity on a similar timescale, but only time will tell.”

Overall, Professor Hunter said more Covid strikes will have a place to protect the most vulnerable people from the virus, but not a way out of the pandemic.

“Additional boosters may have value for the most vulnerable, but they will not ultimately end the pandemic.

“The pandemic will likely not be over until the vast majority of us have been infected with Covid at least once.”