According to a new study from Israel and which was conducted when Omicron was the dominant variant, a fourth dose of the anti-COVID vaccine does provide additional protection against more serious symptoms in the eventuality of infection with the virus.
More precisely, the research showed that it is able to provide significantly more protection against hospitalization and loss of human life in those over the age of 60 for at least a full month.
The team reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that the effectiveness of a fourth dose of the vaccine during days 7 to 30 following the shot, as opposed to the third dose was as follows:
– 45 percent more protection against infection,
– 55 percent more protection against symptomatic infection,
– 62 percent more protection against severe illness,
– 68 percent more protection against hospitalization,
– 74 percent more protection against death.
The research featured no less than 182,122 participants over the age of 60 who received the fourth dose and an equal number of participants who had only received three doses.
The team states that “The results of our real world study suggest that a fourth vaccine dose is, at least initially, quite effective against the Omicron variant. Additional follow up will allow further assessment of the protection provided by the fourth dose over time.”
While this is pretty good news as many people haven’t been sure a fourth dose would bring any new benefits, it appears that the positive effects do not last for a very long time.
The efficacy of the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine tends to wane really quickly.
At the same time, it is worth mentioning that, as per a larger Israeli study published not too long ago, this is mostly the case when it comes to protecting people from infection as opposed to protecting them from severe illness, the latter of which is a benefit people can receive for a longer period of time.
