A first study by Sheba Medical Center and the Central Laboratory for Viruses of the Ministry of Health, indicates the effectiveness of the corona vaccine against the Omicron strain as well.
This is the first study to describe the effectiveness of the third dose against the variant, and it is based on the exclusive data collected in Sheba as part of the large serology study among health workers at the medical center.
These data have been collected since April 2020 and time and time again make it possible to investigate various issues while managing the fight against the plague, as well as to serve as the decision-makers in determining health policy in Israel and around the world.
The study data show that vaccines in the third dose are protected from the omicron strain, and that the third dose is expected to protect against serious illness.
In contrast, vaccinated with only two doses are not at all protected against infection with the omicron strain and are prone to severe morbidity.
The laboratory study was headed by Dr. Michal Mandelbaum of the Ministry of Health's Central Virus Laboratory.
Prof. Gili Regev-Yohai, director of the Infection Prevention and Control Unit at Sheba Medical Center, said that "the findings of the study emphasize the importance of raising immunization rates as an effective and necessary step in cutting off the chains of infection and the spread of the virus."
The risk of serious illness decreases
Prof. Regev Yochai explained: "We checked the level of neutralization of the virus in the blood of people who received the 3rd dose about a month ago compared to those who received the second dose 5 or 6 months ago - and still have not received the booster. The less good news is that people did not receive The booster - and they are 5 or 6 months after the second dose are not protected at all against the corona. "
"It is definitely very worrying," said the unit's director, adding that "on the other hand, among people who received the booster about a month ago there is definitely a nice neutralization, but it is still lower compared to the delta neutralization. "It's much less likely to be seriously ill. The vaccine still protects and I think that's the most important statement."
Regarding the question of whether 20 people are a large enough group for conclusions, Prof. Regev Yochai said that "it was important to see something preliminary that gives quite sufficient information about the average (at the neutralization and laboratory level). We took people who are overall healthy. We know the correlations so I dared to share here "
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