4 Shots Of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Not Enough To Prevent Omicron Infection, Say Israeli Researchers

Four doses of Pfizer Inc PFE and BioNTech SE’s BNTX vaccine were not sufficient to prevent infection with the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

What Happened: A trial by the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel showed, while the vaccine was successful in raising antibody levels, its success was limited against Omicron, reported Bloomberg.

Vaccines that were more successful against previous variants were less successful in preventing infection with Omicron, according to Gili Regev-Yochay, the researcher who led the Israeli trial.

Regev-Yochay disclosed that those infected with Omicron in the trial had only slight symptoms or none at all, according to Bloomberg.

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Why It Matters: Israel began administering the fourth dose of the vaccine to those aged over 60 and to immunocompromised individuals in December as cases rose. 

More than half a million Israelis have received the extra dose, reported Bloomberg — citing the country’s health ministry.

Regev-Yochay defended the decision to roll out the fourth vaccine and said it may have given additional benefit against the Omicron variant but said the results of the trial did not support a wider rollout to the whole population, as per Bloomberg.

Sheba’s researchers are also undertaking a trial using a fourth dose of the vaccine made by Moderna Inc MRNA on 120 volunteers who previously received three doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Results that emerged a week into the trial indicate that the level of antibodies observed was similar to those that received four doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, as per Regev-Yochay, reported Bloomberg.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines in August last year.

In December, it was reported that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine allow the Omicron variant to partially evade protection. A South African study at the time indicated that three doses of Pfizer’s vaccine neutralized the variant.

Price Action: On Friday, in the regular trading session, Pfizer shares closed nearly 1.1% lower at $54.95, while BioNTech’s shares dropped 3.4% to $196.

Read Next: Federal Health Officials Say Omicron-Targeted Shots May Not Be Necessary: WSJ