Tel Aviv University’s Study Shows 4th COVID Vaccine Slashes Death Rate in Elderly

According to a new research conducted by the Tel Aviv University, which has been peer-reviewed, the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine reduced the death rate amongst vulnerable people by 72%.

Study on the elderly

A large Israeli study was conducted on the elderly people who are in care homes and had been administered four doses of the coronavirus vaccine. They were compared to those who had only gotten three shots. The data was obtained during the coronavirus outbreak in the winter season, which had mostly been caused by the Omicron variant of the virus.

Tel Aviv University, along with the Health Ministry and Ben Gurion University, had conducted the study. The findings of the study showed that the fourth dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine reduced the chances of infection by almost 34% and that of hospitalization by almost 60%. JAMA Internal Medicine was the name of the journal that published the study.

Importance of fourth dose

One of the authors of the study and an epidemiologist at the Tel Aviv University, Prof. Khitam Muhsen said that the fourth shot of the vaccine are helpful, not just in reducing hospitalization, but also deaths, which makes them lifesavers.

She added that the results were quite reassuring, particularly because they had no idea if the fourth dose would be helpful. She said that this was applicable to the Omicron variant, which had proven to be very different from the rest and was harder for vaccines to fight against it.

She asserted that the results of the study vindicate the decision made by Israeli authorities to give fourth shots of the vaccine back in December before the rest of the countries in the world. The fourth dose is also known as the second booster shot.

According to her, the study showed that the State of Israel had made the right move when they decided to give the fourth dose of the vaccine to the at-risk population and it ended up saving a lot of lives.

The study’s details

Almost 40,000 Israelis were part of the study, who are residing in institutions that are under the Senior Shield program of the Health Ministry. This was a task force that the government of Israel had launched for overseeing the control and prevention of the coronavirus in the geriatric facilities of the country.

There were 24,088 people who had been given the fourth shot at the Senior Shield facilities who were part of the study, along with 19,687 residents who had only gotten three shots of the vaccine four months earlier, but had chosen not to get the fourth shot.

Muhsen said that they had found that even though immunity of the vaccine does decline over time, the neutralizing bodies are enhanced with the fourth shot of the vaccine much more than the third dose is capable of doing. She said that she would recommend all the elderly to get the fourth shot, in light of the results of the study.