While the US authorities announce that third doses of the Covid vaccine will be distributed to citizens from September, research has come from Israel that demonstrates the effectiveness of the third injection, especially among the over 60s.
The study was conducted by Maccabi, Israel’s largest health insurance fund, where over 1 million people got the booster after double immunization. The third dose of Pfizer vaccine, at one week or more inoculation, shows an efficacy against the virus of 86% among the over 60s. The research has compared almost 150 thousand people on the seventh day after the third dose, with over 675 thousand individuals – divided by age, gender, social status and population group – with only 2 doses between January and February 2021, 5 months earlier. In the first group, 37 became positive, while in the second 1,064.
“The efficacy of the three-dose vaccine is high against both infections and serious diseases,” said Dr. Ekka Zohar, who led the study. “I urge all those aged 50 and over who have yet to receive the third dose of the vaccine to do so, to protect both themselves and their families.” So far, more than 1.1 million Israelis have received a third dose of the vaccine. Tomorrow the epidemic control committee will meet to decide whether to inoculate the third dose even those over 40 years old. The idea is to inoculate most people with the third dose before the start of the Israeli holidays on September 6.
The distribution of the third dose for US citizens will start from 20 September. The available data clearly show that protection against coronavirus infection decreases with time, and coinciding with the Delta variant, we begin to see reduced protection against mild and moderate disease. We have concluded that a recall is necessary to maximize vaccine protection and extend its duration, “reads a note signed by the director of the Centers for Disease Prevention (CDC) Rochelle Wakensky and the head of the Food and Drug Administration (Fda ) Janet Woodcock. The inoculation of the third dose of Pfizer or Moderna, it is explained, will therefore have to be carried out eight months after the second.