Israel’s Sheba Medical Center administered second booster injections in a trial among its staff and is studying the effect of the Pfizer dose in 154 people after two weeks and the Moderna dose in 120 people after a week, Gili Regev-Yochay said. , director of the Infectious Diseases Unit.
The results were compared to a control group that did not receive a fourth dose. Those in the Moderna group had previously received three doses of the Pfizer vaccine, according to the hospital.
“The increase in antibody levels that we saw with both Moderna and Pfizer is slightly higher than what we saw after the third booster vaccine,” says Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit, which however detects a lower effectiveness with current dominant variant.
The vaccines caused an increase in the number of antibodies “even a little higher than what we had after the third dose,” Regev-Yochay said.
“Despite everything, it is probably not enough for Ómicron,” he told the media. “We know that the level of antibodies needed to protect against infection from Omicron is probably too high for the vaccine, even if it is a good vaccine.”
The findings, which the hospital says are the first of their kind in the world, are preliminary and have not yet been published.
Israel was the fastest country to roll out initial vaccines a year ago and last month began offering a fourth shot, or a second booster, to the most vulnerable and high-risk groups.
With information from Reuters and EFE.