Written by: Abigail Klein Leichman
Article source: www.israel21c.org
Published in New England Journal of Medicine, prospective study of nearly 5,000 vaccinated healthcare workers supports decision to give booster shots.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 loses considerable effectiveness six months after the second dose, according to new Israeli research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study echoes findings published by Pfizer and Kaiser Permanente in Lancet earlier in the week, showing the vaccine’s effectiveness drops from 88 to 47 percent after six months. This study also proved the vaccine 90% effective for at least six months at preventing hospitalization of infected people.
The Israeli study involved more than 4,800 fully vaccinated healthcare workers. From December 19, 2020, to July 9, 2021, their antibody response was tested monthly.
The researchers found a significant waning of immune responses — especially among men, people over 65 and immunosuppressed people.
“The decrease in neutralizing antibody titers was brisk initially, in the period of up to 70 to 80 days, but slowed thereafter,” they reported.
The researched noted a “striking difference” between vaccinated people and recovered Covid-19 patients: “Overall, the accumulating evidence from our study and others show that long-term humoral [immune] response and vaccine effectiveness in previously infected persons is superior to that in recipients of two doses of vaccine.”
This may explain the substantially lower incidence of breakthrough infection among previously infected persons than among vaccinated persons.
Lead author Dr. Gili Regev Yochay, chief of infectious disease epidemiology at Sheba Medical Center, said the new study was one of three that contributed to the Israeli government’s world-first decision to give a third (booster) shot to citizens fully vaccinated at least five months before.
“We have shown in our previous work in the New England Journal of Medicine that there is a correlation between neutralizing antibodies and breakthrough infection,” she said.
The third study that influenced the decision to give boosters relied on Israeli Ministry of Health data indicating a decrease in vaccine effectiveness over six months.
The researchers also created a predictive model to assess the likelihood of different morbidity levels in various subpopulations. This could help health practitioners make decisions about specific patients.
Now, said Regev Yochay, Israeli and international scientists are working to quantify the threshold of antibodies required to protect from SARS-CoV-2 infection, from severe Covid-19, and from death due to Covid-19.
“After we learn the threshold of antibodies, the large table of probabilities we are publishing will help predict what is the right preventive measure for the different subpopulations,” she concluded in a statement to the press.
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Date published: 06/11/2021
Feature image: Image for illustrative purposes only. unsplash.com
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Interesting. Just this week some expert on COVID-19 stated emphaically that vaccination is much better than natural infection at preventing second infection. It seems that SABC’s selected experts may not be on top of their game? Unless of course they their knowledge is superior to that of the manufacturers and the Israelis. I am not holding my breath.
This is not to say that I am against vaccination. The likelihood of hospilalisation and death from a first infection is very much lower after vaccination than is the case for someone who has not been vaccinated. For those over 50 it is a case of kill or cure, with the scales heavily weighted in favour of the latter. Even 6 months after the after second vaccination when there is a higher risk of invection (although not yet established), the risk of death is still much lower than not being vacinated.
So, if you are in the high risk category, get those first two Phizer jabs. And if you are in a lower risk category and care for your elders, do the same to increase societal herd immunity and lower the risk of infecting them. In either case the only justifiable Christian reason for not doing so is if you know that you have a condition that is likely to be worsened due to taking the vaccine. But just remember, hwtever the vaccine causes, getting infected with the real thing will be much worse. (Although the probability of being infected will diminish as herd immunity increases.)
Hi Chris, also be aware of the fact that the Jab does have breakthrough capabilities which in some circles is worse, as the patient does not know they have been infected and they become the spreaders and infect others. Or are we wrong…?
Stop promoting this jab. It is destroying the immune system (to name one of many side effects). Israel has among the highest infections and if I’m mistaken they are on the 3rd booster shot. Surely a study supported by Pfizer should be a concern??. The number of heart issues worldwide that has suddenly spiked should be a concern to everyone. There is a story in Joy about Franklin Graham who has just had an op as he has Pericarditis…yet he is jabbed and promoting it. If anyone thinks the last almost 2 years is about your health then you are wildly mistaken. Wake up people!!
This nonsense that un ‘vaccinated’ people are the spreaders of the secondary covid’s like the Delta variant is also a misnomer. It is time for the scientists to stop their attacks on those who have another view about something. Natural immunity is 27 times more than that created by the jabs, so why should people that have not been injected be ‘shamed’? Besides with less than 25% of people is SA vaccinated, the chances are huge that most people that are infected have not received the jab, while it has been proven in Britain that 60% of their infected people were fully injected. How does that make anybody think that the jab is better for you when 3 from each 5 infected people were ‘fully vaccinated’ to use the terminology of the government. People should actually use their heads and NOT be coerced or shamed into having the injections.