Israel says 4th COVID vaccine triples protection from severe illness for over-60s

The fourth dose of COVID-19 shot given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than people administrated with three doses in the same age group, Israel's Health Ministry announced on Sunday.

Israel's Health Ministry said the figures resulted from initial analysis by experts from various leading health and academic institutions and compared the fourth COVID vaccine with people who received three shots at least four months ago.

The study's figures are based on 400,000 Israeli citizens who received the fourth vaccine and 600,000 who received three doses of the vaccine. The ministry stressed that the methodology used in the study is similar to previous papers other experts have published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine.

The health ministry also announced the fourth dose, or second booster, made people over the age of 60 twice as resistant to infection as those who had received three doses of the vaccine.

Last week, a preliminary study published by the Israeli Sheba medical center found that the fourth shot surges antibodies to even higher levels than the third dose. However, it did not seem to offer protection against infection by the Omicron variant.