A fourth dose of Biontech/Pfizer’s vaccine does lower rates of Covid-19 in the elderly. But the protection against infection appears to be short-lived, according to a large-scale study in Israel. The protection provided by the second booster vaccination was therefore already after four weeks, as Israeli researchers showed in their study published in the renowned “New England Journal of Medicine”.
However, the protection against serious illnesses did not decrease in the six weeks after the vaccination. However, further follow-up studies are needed to assess longer-term protection, the scientists explained.
The study of 1.3 million people over the age of 60 examined data from the Israel Ministry of Health between January 10 and March 2. At this point, the highly contagious omicron variant was predominant.
However, another study – also from Israel – showed in March that elderly people who received a second booster of the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine had a 78 percent lower mortality rate than those who only received a booster. Israel has been offering a second booster vaccination since January.
Source: Nachrichten
