Study: Fourth dose of vaccine hardly increases protection against omicron infection

Israeli study
Fourth dose of vaccine hardly increases protection against omicron infection

Vaccination against the coronavirus in Israel

© Ahmad Gharabli / AFP

An Israeli study examines how well a fourth dose of vaccine protects against omicron infections. The first results show: obviously not enough. Lauterbach is pushing for adapted vaccines.

According to initial data from an Israeli study, a fourth corona vaccination does not provide sufficient protection against infection with the omicron variant. Infections are also observed in people who have been vaccinated four times, said Professor Gili Regev-Yochay from the Shiba Hospital near Tel Aviv on Monday. A fourth dose increases the antibody level, “but it only offers partial protection against the virus,” explained the study leader.

You see many omicron infections among those who received the fourth dose, Regev-Yochay said. “Granted, a little less than in the control group, but still many infections.” People who had not received a fourth vaccination served as the control group. Regev-Yochay emphasized that these are interim results of the study, so she did not want to give more precise figures.

Around 150 participants in the study had received a fourth dose of the vaccine from Biontech-Pfizer. Another 120 participants received a fourth dose of Moderna after three doses of Biontech/Pfizer. Regev-Yochay said it was the world’s first trial of a fourth vaccination with combined vaccines.

Previous studies have already shown that the protection against infection of the current vaccines against Omikron is weaker than that of earlier variants. Omicron has numerous mutations in the spike protein – the virus site against which current vaccines are directed. The researchers in Israel investigated whether protection against infection could be improved by adding a fourth booster to the existing vaccines.

A week after the start of the study, the number of antibodies had quintupled. However, “Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, which were more effective against the other variants, offer less protection against omicron,” she explained.

Israel is already administering the fourth dose of vaccine

The Israeli government recently gave the go-ahead for giving a booster booster shot to patients with a weakened immune system, people aged 60 and over and medical workers. More than 537,000 Israelis have already received a fourth dose, according to the health ministry.

“The decision (in Israel) to give immunocompromised people the fourth dose might confer a small benefit,” Regev-Yochay said. “But probably not enough to give to the whole population.”

Omicron vaccines ‘urgently needed now’

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) spoke of “disappointing results so far” in view of the first study data. Despite the fourth dose, “many” became infected with the omicron variant. Vaccines specially tailored to Omikron are “urgently needed now,” Lauterbach wrote on Twitter. He also emphasized the importance of the booster vaccination, i.e. the third dose of vaccination: it prevents severe disease progression.

According to the Ministry of Health, almost 4.4 million Israelis have already received their third vaccination dose, and more than 537,000 have already received their fourth. 9.4 million people live in Israel. So far, more than 39.5 million people in Germany have received a third-party vaccination against the corona virus. This corresponds to a booster vaccination rate of 47.6 percent. There is currently no recommendation for a fourth vaccination dose in Germany.

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