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One of the authors of the Israeli study is slated to present data to the committee. An advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will discuss Pfizer’s application to supply boosters in the United States on 17 September. The findings come as a slew of wealthier nations consider offering booster shots. The authors of the study could not be reached before publication. Even if not all biases have been eliminated, she says, the magnitude of the effect suggests that the booster offers some protection, at least in the short term. For example, people who sign up to get a booster might have a different risk of COVID-19, or behave differently, from people who do not get a third jab.Įllenberg says that the authors try to address some of these potential biases. The latest analysis links the third jab not only with a significant reduction in severe COVID-19, but also with an 11.3-fold reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infections.īut Ellie Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University in Massachusetts, cautions that observational studies such as this analysis can contain biases that are difficult to identify and account for. Israel, which got an early start on vaccinating its population, began offering third doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine in July, to people aged 60 and over. What it will take to vaccinate the world against COVID-19
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But potential biases in the data leave some scientists unconvinced that boosters are necessary for all populations - and the data do not dispel concerns about vaccine equity when billions of people are still waiting for their first jab. “It’s a very strong result,” says Susan Ellenberg, a biostatistician at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who adds that the data might be the most robust she has seen in favour of boosters. Twelve or more days after receiving a third jab, participants were about 19.5 times less likely to have severe COVID-19 than were people in the same age group who had received only two jabs and were studied during a similar time period. The latest study evaluated 1.1 million Israelis over the age of 60 who had received their first two doses at least five months earlier. The standard regimen for messenger RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines is two doses, but some governments, including Israel’s, have started administering third ‘booster’ shots. Older Israelis who have received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine are much less likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 or to develop severe COVID-19 than are those who have had only two jabs, according to a highly anticipated study published on 15 September 1. A resident of an assisted-living facility in Israel receives a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.