Israeli Research Shows Covid Booster Shot is Highly Effective

(Bloomberg) -- One of Israel’s top health care providers said Wednesday that initial results of a study have showed that a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, given to Israelis over 60, has been 86% effective. 

The study compared 149,144 members of Maccabi HealthCare Services who received three doses at least seven days ago with 675,630 members of the same age, gender, socioeconomic status and population group who only received two inoculations in January and February. 

“Three-dose vaccine effectiveness is highly protective against both infection and severe illness,” Anat Ekka Zohar, Maccabi’s chief statistician, said in a statement. “The triple dose is the solution to curbing the current infection outbreak.” 

Israel was the first country to approve the use of booster shots for over-60s in late July, despite a lack of widespread evidence of its efficacy. Last week, grappling with its fourth wave of Covid-19, the government lowered the eligibility age to 50. 

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