4th Covid-19 Vaccine Reduces Risk of Death by 72% Amongst Elderly
Study by Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, and Israeli Ministry of Health included 40K Israelis
A new study by Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Health, found that the fourth COVID-19 vaccine is effective in protecting the elderly from the Omicron variant.
The groundbreaking study included approximately 40,000 elderly Israelis living in institutions supervised by the Ministry of Health's “Senior Shield” program, a task force launched by Israel’s government to oversee the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the country’s geriatric facilities. According to its results, elderly at-risk individuals vaccinated with the fourth dose of the Pfizer vaccine have a 34% reduced risk of contracting the Omicron variant, a 64-67% reduced risk of requiring hospitalization due to COVID, and a 72% reduced risk of death from the virus.
The study was led by Prof. Khitam Muhsen and Prof. Dani Cohen of the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Ron Dagan of Ben Gurion University, Prof. Nimrod Maimon, director of the Internal Medicine Department at Soroka Medical Center and until recently head of the Ministry of Health’s Senior Shield program, as well as program staff members Ami Mizrahi, Omri Bodenheimer, and Boris Boltyansky, in collaboration with Lea Gaon and Zafrira Hillel-Diamant of the Ministry’s Department of Geriatrics. The study was published in the prestigious journal JAMA Internal Medicine.