Second COVID vaccine booster significantly lowers death rate, Israeli study shows
Second COVID vaccine booster significantly lowers death rate, Israeli study shows
March 27, 2022; 7:44 AM EDT
JERUSALEM, March 27 (Reuters) – Senior citizens who received a second booster of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination had a 78% lower mortality rate from the disease than those who got one only, a study from Israel showed on Sunday.
The country’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit Health Services, said the 40-day study included more than half a million people aged 60 to 100.
Some 58% of participants had received a second booster – or two shots in addition to the basic two-shot regimen. The remainder had received only one booster. Researchers recorded 92 deaths among the first group and 232 deaths among the second, smaller group.
89-year-old Yodit Ben Ari receives a fourth dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine following a vaccination party after Israel approved a second booster shot for the immunocompromised, people over 60 years and medical staff in a retirement home in Netanya, Israel January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
“The main conclusion is that the second booster is lifesaving,” said Ronen Arbel, Health Outcomes Researcher at Clalit and Sapir College.
The report was issued as a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed. The research excluded people who received rival Moderna’s vaccine and those who had taken oral anti-COVID therapy.
Israeli health officials have put out a number of studies on vaccine efficacy throughout the pandemic that have impacted policymaking in other countries.
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