On Tuesday, March 15, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had requested emergency approval from the US Drug Administration for the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for people age 65 and older.
The companies said in a statement that their request was based on two Israeli studies showing that "additional mRNA supplementation boosts immunity and reduces the risk of confirmed infections." know and be sick".
The situation in many countries has deteriorated due to high levels of data during the omicron wave, but in many countries baseline data is stagnating or increasing as restrictions have been removed and needles protected. Previous drugs begin to weaken.
The first Israeli study, cited by Pfizer and BioNTech, found that people who received the boost were "twice as likely to be diagnosed and four times less likely to contract the disease" than those who did not receive it. not a dose.
The analysis is limited to people 60 years and older who received the second dose 4 months after the first dose. A second study (a survey of Israeli health workers over the age of 18) found that people who received the second dose were more likely to receive the vaccine than those who did not.
"This study has not yet addressed any new safety issues for people receiving additional vaccines," the company said.
The first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech is two doses, so the second dose is the fourth for most people.
Recent studies have shown that the third dose of mRNA increases immunity more than the first treatment, while the fourth dose only brings the individual level back to the same level.
Many European countries, including Israel, have already approved second doses for the elderly and weakened immune systems most at risk of serious illnesses.