Data from Israel published tonight (Wednesday) show that the fourth vaccine dose, approved in January this year, triples the protection against serious illness in people aged 60 and over, compared to those vaccinated for the third dose.
The study, based on data from more than one million people over the age of 60 who were found eligible for the vaccine, examined the protection provided by the fourth dose from January 10, 2022, to March 2, 2022. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, After undergoing peer review.
The study showed that the rate of severe morbidity among fourth-dose vaccinated was about three times lower than in third-dose vaccinated only, and that protection did not decline throughout the study period.
The rate of verified cases among fourth-dose vaccinated was also twice as low as in third-dose vaccinated only, but the protection against infection faded during the eight weeks of the study.
To avoid biases between those who chose to be vaccinated with a fourth dose and those who chose not to, the study also compared the morbidity rates of fourth-dose recipients from the second week onwards, compared to morbidity rates in the first week after receiving the fourth dose, where the vaccine supplement is still partial.
In this analysis similar results of improvement in the level of protection were obtained.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Ministry of Health, the Technion, the Hebrew University, and the Gartner Institute at Sheba Medical Center.
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