Pfizer booster jab reduces risk of Covid hospitalisation by 93pc
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Getting a Pfizer booster jab five months after a second dose reduces a person’s risk of hospitalisation with Covid by 93 per cent, according to new research in The Lancet.
The study from the Clalit Research Institute in Tel Aviv and Harvard University in the US is the first nationwide analysis of booster jab effectiveness and involved 1.5 million Israelis.
Half of these people got a booster, while the other half had not yet received one.
Israel was a pioneer in the distribution of vaccines at the start of 2021, getting a jab in the arm of half of its population by the end of February. But by the time a fourth wave hit the nation in summer, there was some waning of vaccine-induced immunity.
Data from the study show that a person’s risk from Covid in the week after getting a booster is much lower than someone who is only double-jabbed.
But while a booster did drastically reduce the threat of Covid relative to someone who does not get their booster, the absolute risk from Covid is still tiny for the double-jabbed.
Photo A nurse prepares to administer Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Krakow, southern Poland. EPA-EFE/Lukasz Gagulski
