An Israel-based study has found that a fourth dose of the Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) / BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) vaccine lowered rates of COVID-19 infection among the elderly. However, the protection against disease appeared to be short-lived.
Israeli researchers showed that the second booster's protection against infection dwindled after four weeks in their study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers said that protection against severe illness did not wane six weeks after the dose, but more follow-up study was needed to evaluate its longer-term protection.
Related: FDA Authorizes Fourth Dose Of Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines For Older People.
The study on 1.3 million people aged 60 and older looked at data from the Israeli Ministry of Health database between January 10 and March 2, when the Omicron variant was predominant.
The number of severe COVID-19 cases per 100,000 person-days was 1.5 in the aggregated four-dose groups, 3.9 in the three-dose group, and 4.2 in the internal control group.
Rates of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe Covid-19 were lower after a fourth dose of the vaccine than after only three doses.
Price Action: PFE shares are up 2.16% at $52.35, and BNTX stock is down 8.63% at $165.13 during the market session on the last check Wednesday.
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