Third dose covid: Study in Israel shows benefits – Health

The Israeli Ministry of Health announced that the implementation of a third dose from Pfizer vaccine against the covid-19 significantly improved protection against infection and serious illness among people 60 years of age and older in Israel compared to those who have received two doses.

(Read also: CDC advisers recommend third dose for people with low defenses)

The data were presented in a panel of experts on vaccines and officially published yesterday on the ministry’s virtual page, but the full details of the study have not been disclosed, nor have they been recorded in an academic paper, endorsed in pairs.

These findings show statistics given separately last week by Maccabi, a supplier of Israeli health services which is part of several organizations that are supplying booster vaccines to try to curb the delta variant of the coronavirus.

(You may be interested: Covid-19 is back in Israel)

Breaking down statistics from Israel’s Gertner Institute and the KI Institute, ministry officials said that among people aged 60 and over, infection protection offered from 10 days after a third dose it was four times higher than after two doses.

A third dose for those over 60 offered five to six times greater protection after 10 days for serious illness and hospitalization for covid19. Because of its risk, this age group was the first to be vaccinated in this country in late December last year.

(Also: Only one in five people is vaccinated in Latin America: PAHO)

Health Unit
* With information from agencies