Daily US Times: A third dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine has significantly improved protection from serious illness and infection among people aged 60 and older in Israel compared with those who received two shots. Israel’s Health Ministry data showed on Sunday.
The data were presented on Thursday at a meeting of a ministry panel of vaccination experts and uploaded to its website on Sunday. The full details of the study were not released.
The findings were on par with separate statistics reported by Israel’s Maccabi healthcare provider, one of several organisations administering booster shots to try to curb the Delta coronavirus variant.
Breaking down statistics from the county’s Gertner Institute and KI Institute, ministry officials said that among people aged 60 and over, the protection against Covid-19 infection provided from 10 days after a third dose was four times higher than after two doses.
A third dose of Covid-19 vaccine for over 60-year-olds offered five to six times greater protection after 10 days with regard to hospitalisation and serious illness.
That age group is particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and in Israel was the first country in the world to be inoculated when the vaccine drive began in late December.
The Israeli health ministry has said in recent weeks that immunity has diminished over time for younger and seniors people as well. Most people vaccinated against Covid-19 who fell severely ill in Israel were over 60 and with underlying health conditions.
The country started administering third jabs of Covid-19 vaccine to over 60-year-olds on July 30. On Thursday, it dropped the age of eligibility for a booster to 40, and included teachers, health care workers and pregnant women below that age.
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