3rd COVID vaccine dose boosts immunity tenfold: Israeli study

The third vaccine dose against COVID-19 increases the immune protection from infection tenfold, the Israeli Ministry of Health said on Thursday, reports Xinhua.

The ministry said that a new Israeli study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined the effectiveness of the third dose among those over the age of 60, who received the booster shot in August. The tenfold protection is compared to those who received only two doses at least five months ago, rep

The study was conducted by a team of multidisciplinary researchers from the health ministry, the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion, the Sheba Medical Center and the KI Research Institute, it said.

“The data from Israel indicate high efficacy of Pfizer’s third booster dose in preventing COVID-19 infection and serious illness,” the ministry noted.

Israel began vaccinating its population with the third vaccine dose on August 1, as the Delta variant was spreading in the country and the effectiveness of the first two doses eroded.