New Omicron-fighting COVID booster shots have reduced COVID hospitalizations among Israelis aged over 65 by 81 percent, according to recently released research.
The study on the updated Pfizer shots, released over the summer, found they reduced the risk of death in this demographic by about 86%. However, as only one death occurred among those who received the boosters, this figure is considered a less reliable indicator of effectiveness than the data on hospitalizations.
Research, posted online On 3 January, but not yet peer-reviewed, the world’s first large-scale evaluation of “bivalent” shots to be scaled up against variants.
However, this does not shed any light on how much more effective the new vaccines are than the original vaccines prior to their anti-omicron updates.
Instead, it addresses a more practical question being asked in countries where the bivalent shot is the new standard and where older people are being routinely encouraged to take it, such as Israel and the US. It examines the level of protection compared to what people get when they get a booster and who rely on earlier vaccines instead.
Dr. Ronen Arbel, an author of the study, told The Times of Israel on Monday, “The message is that if you’re over age 65, getting a booster may give you extra protection.” “This extra protection adds to the earlier shots and could keep you out of the hospital and save your life.”
He said that while the study focused on Pfizer’s vaccines, it is also reason for optimism about Moderna, because the technology is similar and the shots have similar effectiveness.
file. An Israeli man receives a COVID-19 booster at a Meuhedet vaccination center in Jerusalem on January 4, 2022. (Jonathan Sindel/Flash90)
The study called bivalent boosters “an effective and necessary tool” to reduce the risks of COVID death and illness among the over-65 age group. Arbel said it has “global relevance” and hopes it emphasizes the booster’s value to policymakers and members of the public.
He added that it intentionally did not track infection rates, “because the primary purpose and importance of vaccines today is not to prevent infection, but to reduce severe disease and death.”
Arbel, a researcher at Clalit and Sapir College, is part of a group of scholars whose earlier studies were consulted by vaccine policymakers in the US before the third and fourth vaccines were approved. It is run by Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest healthcare provider.
Dr. Ronen Arbel, a researcher at Sapir College and CLAT Healthcare Services (courtesy of Ronen Arbel)
For their new study, the scholars analyzed anonymised data from all CLAT members aged 65-plus who received early COVID vaccines – more than 500,000 people. They compared hospitalizations and deaths among those with no improvement since Sept. 24, when the updated vaccines became standard in Israel.
The study has been posted to an online repository run by the Lancet, a leading medical journal, exclusively for material that has not yet been peer-reviewed. The results were adjusted for a variety of mortality risk factors to neutralize potential bias arising from differences in age, sex, socioeconomic status, or co-morbidities.
Dr. Doron Netzer, head of the Department of Medicine at Clalit and one of the study’s authors, said the research is encouraging given that the bivalent vaccine was introduced with limited data on its effectiveness.
“The vaccine was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in an emergency procedure without efficacy studies in relation to the prevention of serious illness. That’s why there is uncertainty in the world about its usefulness.
“The results of the study we conducted clearly show that the Omicron vaccine is significantly associated with reducing the risk of hospitalization and mortality from coronavirus, including many of the current strains of Omicron.
“The results show that the Israeli Ministry of Health’s decision to recommend additional doses of the vaccine to the elderly population prevented many hospitalizations and even deaths from the coronavirus. Publication of research findings may contribute to at-risk populations completing this beneficial vaccine,” he said.
