As omicron’s BA.2 variant is fueling a spike in COVID-19 infections, the latest large-scale study by an Israeli HMO suggests that a fourth dose reduces both the risk of infection and severe illness
By Yaron Kelner, HAARETZ Mar 26/22
Separate studies by Israel’s two largest health care providers published Saturday suggest that the fourth vaccine dose significantly reduces the risk of dying from COVID-19 when compared to the protection offered by three doses of the vaccine.
The study by Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest health maintenance organization, demonstrates a reduced risk of death, while Maccabi Healthcare Services’ study shows that a fourth vaccine reduces both the risk of infection and of severe illness.
These findings are particularly relevant as omicron’s BA.2 variant is fueling a spike in COVID-19 infections throughout Israel and many other countries.
Clalit’s study covered 563,465 people aged 60 to 100 who had received three doses of the vaccine. They were divided into two groups: those who chose to receive a fourth dose, and those who chose not to receive a fourth dose. Of the participants, 58 percent received a fourth vaccine.
The researchers compared the mortality rate in the two populations between January 10, about a week after the approval of the fourth dose, and February 20. During this period 232 people died in the group that received only three doses, compared with 92 in the group that received four.
According to the researchers, the data show that the fourth vaccine reduces the risk of dying from the coronavirus in older adults by 78 percent.
The Clalit study has not yet been peer-reviewed, and is currently in the process of being accepted for publication in a journal. It was carried out by Clalit’s Community Medicine Division in collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Maximizing Health Outcomes Research Lab at Sapir Academic College.
The head of the Community Medicine Division, Dr. Doron Netzer, explains that the findings are important because the prevailing perception is that the omicron variant causes only mild illness, so no additional vaccine is needed.
“The results of the study show that the fourth dose is significantly associated with a reduced risk of mortality from coronavirus, including from omicron,” he said.
Maccabi’s study examined the effectiveness of the vaccine for nine weeks, from January to March, among about 100,000 Maccabi members 60 and older who were vaccinated in three doses. It showed that the fourth dose was 73 percent more effective in preventing severe illness than three doses. However, fewer than 1 percent of the participants who were vaccinated with at least three doses experienced severe COVID-19.
The results also showed the efficacy of the fourth dose against infection with the coronavirus. According to the study, about three weeks after receiving the fourth vaccine, the risk of becoming infected decreases by 64 percent compared to those vaccinated with only three doses. However, 10 weeks after the fourth vaccine the reduction in risk drops to 29 percent, indicating that the added protection it offers dissipates more quickly than that provided by the third dose.
The study was conducted by KSM, the Maccabi Research and Innovation Center, and is awaiting peer review.
According to the researchers, more studies are needed over a longer period to determine the duration of protection afforded by the fourth dose over time. They added that more studies could examine how re-exposure to the same vaccine affects protection against different variants.
The fourth dose of vaccine was approved by the Health Ministry on January 2 for people 60 and over as well as health care workers, provided that four months have passed since receiving the third vaccine. The decision, which set a global precedent, was made at the beginning of the omicron wave in Israel, in a bid to increase protection against the variant that broke through the immune defense of many vaccinated people.
Yet despite the high rates of infection and illness, relatively few people have agreed to a fourth dose: about 750,000 people, compared with 6.7 million people in Israel who have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, 6.1 million who have had two doses and 4.4 million with three doses.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz met with the heads of the country’s four HMOs and offered them a 100 shekel ($31) bonus for each person age 60 and over who receives a fourth dose.
Fifth vax is even better! FDA authorizes both 4th and 5th COVID shots
https://dossier.substack.com/p/mrna-madness-fda-authorizes-both?r=o7iqo&s=r
Vax for babies in Australia. This may help slow learners understand the real issue.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/covid-19-jabs-for-babies-and-toddlers-under-1b-vaccine-extension-20220324-p5a7mw.html
I read the study and it only compares mortality from COVID, not total mortality. The78% decrease in death from COVID is significant but it was only 140 people out of almost 600,000. With out knowing total mortality can not rule out possibility that more people died who were vaccinated. Don’t know if that was an over site or deliberate omission Have to see what final published article says
Paul Fein MD
“But it argues persuasively for taking the 4th jab.”
Wow, you guys still don’t get it.
Incredible
Steve Kirsch reports that vaxxed people’s blood has a feature not seen in the unvaxxed. This is what people should be discussing, not the umpteenth fake study by paid hacks.
https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/the-blood-of-covid-vaccinated-people?s=r
I’m with Clive. this is largely, if not all, bullshit. ivermectin has repeatedly proven successful, but for some reason is disallowed. A close friend in Alabama, an M.D., was threatened with losing his license. He prescribed Ivermectin repeatedly with 100% success. There is now a new anti-viral that IS available and being given in the U.S. called MOLNUPIRVIR. Apparently has had great success. It is sad that Israel is involved with this scam. I just returned from a business trip to Florida — no mandates, no masks, no higher deaths, no distancing — just life as normal. The problem is politicians have used this pandemic to get control of the population through fear and exploitation. It’s all very clear if you follow the Ivermectin story!
The problem with this conclusion is that they have purposefully setup the testing and the “vaccinated” category definition to bias results towards this conclusion, regardless if it is true, which renders the conclusion to be self-fulfilling. They consider any vaccine failure taking place within the first 7days following vaccination to be “unvaccinated”. This is particularly important when you are considering only deaths because 80% of those who die following vaccination, which includes those who would die of covid, die within that first week. So how many are dead with the 4th shot in their system but are classified as “unvaccinated” remains unknown.
Those not qualified as fully vaccinated would also be tested more frequently, regardless of any signs of illness. As we know, upto 97% of people who test positive with no clinical illness are false positive, so the more you test the more “covid positive” results will result.
There is also the issue of false negatives, after the virus has cleared the system and Omicron clears quite quickly.
Hence the most reliable measure of a vaccine’s effect on death should be considered by the use of excess all cause mortality. When looking at the excess all cause mortality, the numbers are quite disturbing:
https://twitter.com/ChGefaell/status/1506187848197849088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1506187848197849088%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthepulse.one%2F2022%2F03%2F24%2Fisrael-despite-high-vaccination-rate-covid-deaths-excess-mortality-are-highest-of-the-pandemic%2F
See the link for the graphs.
Everyone needs to look at these facts and judge them for themselves, but the data is badly defined and the excess all-cause mortality is horrifying to consider.
How did they all do compared to unvaccinated people? What would the study show without the 100 shekels per head? How much was paid under the table? If you zoom out to what’s being seen in the world population, this study shows little more than what happens to corrupt people when the scam has been exposed. Work it until the end, our friends in the drug companies will cover for us. The cure: life at hard labor.
@Chocopot
Perhaps, but here is another way to look at it. All people who took part in the survey survived till now. Perhaps their survival could in part be attributed to having taken the first three jabs. .At least it didn’t kill them.
Going forward, roughly 50 % of them took the 4th jab and had a much better (78%) survival rate than those who didn’t.. Admittedly it only applies to the first four weeks. But it argues persuasively for taking the 4th jab.
“Fourth Vaccine Reduces Risk of Dying From COVID by 78 Percent, Israeli Study Finds”
If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you – cheap.
Which vaccine? Any? Is everybody in Israel getting the same vaccine?
@clive
She certainly received the royal treatment. It would take so little to treat the general public as if they were a Queen, and no doubt Boris Johnson and his like would be granted such a privilege. The obvious two tiered level of treatment for Covid is quite a disgrace and has cost too many lives. This cynical denial of appropriate treatment is so obvious, I can not believe the general public has been so tolerant of the terrible crime forced upon them while not responding more severely to the outrages of malfeasance prescribed for them by their political masters.
One did not work , two did not work, three did not work but the 4th is the magic bullet. The Queen was triple vaxxed but they gave her Ivermectin