Israeli scientists have confirmed the high effectiveness of the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine. According to The Jerusalem Post publication, a third dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine led to 50 times more neutralizing antibodies in healthcare workers who received the shot eight months after their second dose, a new study has shown.
The report, published recently in Lancet Microbe by Dr. Esther Saiag, deputy director for information and operations at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, and her colleague Dr. David Bomze, examined the effect of the third dose on 346 healthy hospital employees.
According to Dr. Esther Saiag, these workers tend to be healthier and more active than average citizens, and that because of the role they have played in the pandemic, they were among the first to take the vaccines.
Most of these workers received their second shot eight months before their third shot. Israel started its vaccination campaign on December 20, and medical personnel was among the first group to be vaccinated.
The third dose of the Pfizer vaccine led to a 50-fold increase in the number of antibodies in medical professionals who were vaccinated eight months after the second dose.
In a report published in Lancet Microbe magazine by Dr. Esther Saiag and her colleague David Bomze, doctors studied the effect of the third dose on 346 healthy hospital employees.
“We saw that very soon after having enough of the population getting the third booster that the fourth wave subsided,” Saiag said. “Now we see what was happening behind the scenes. We have this surge in antibodies. Maybe we all expected to find this, but now we have the data to prove it.”
A follow-up study is now planned to trace possible causes for lack of response or non-maximal response among these subjects.
This is the largest study of its kind to examine the effect of the booster dose among healthcare workers.
Saiag said the plans are to continue to follow this group and re-screen them at various intervals to see what happens with their antibody levels. They will also check in with the staff to see if any of them contract COVID and, if so, if they have symptomatic or asymptomatic cases.
The results could help governments, including the Israeli government, make decisions about whether a fourth dose is needed, she said.