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A fourth dose of the Covid vaccine may not be necessary at this time or may not be necessary for most people because it does not add significant protection.
According to a team of researchers from the
Sheba Medical Center (Israel) in an article published in
MedRxivwhere the team describes a comparison of people given a second booster injection with people who did not.
As the pandemic progressed, researchers worked to develop vaccines to prevent people from getting sick and therapies to help those affected. As a result, several companies have developed vaccines that have been shown to prevent serious infections. Booster injections of the same vaccines were then found to provide protection again months later, as the immune response to the vaccines waned.
Since then, many people have wondered if they will need another booster injection as the protection from the first booster begins to wear off.
Israel is one of the few countries that has not waited to find out if a fourth injection is needed. They have already begun to give second boosters, that is, a fourth dose, to those who want them.
To determine the efficacy of the second booster shots, the researchers selected 1,000 workers that they were fully vaccinated and had received a booster shot. Two hundred and seventy-four received a second reinforcement; the remainder served as a control group. The researchers then measured the antibody levels of all the subjects.
They found that while the fourth dose slightly increased protection, not enough to justify use, at least at this time. They also found that this second booster dose did not activate T cells.
However, they suggest their results shouldn’t scare people; they believe that most people are still adequately protected thanks to their first three pricks.
Still, they suggest older people and those at risk for other reasons receive a second booster if they could.
Although these people were not included in the study, the researchers assume that any increased protection for those most at risk is a reason to get the vaccine.