With the advent of the new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, 'Omicron,' many wonder whether or not to get the vaccine, and even the fully vaccinated individuals wonder whether the booster would provide any additional protection. Recently published in Lancet, one of the most extensive real-world observational studies of the third booster dose of the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine showed that the booster was indeed effective in protecting against severe COVID-19 infection outcomes, compared to receiving only two doses.
Scientists from Harvard and collaborators in Israel collected the data from 728,321 individuals aged 12 or above who had received their third dose of the Pfizer vaccine. This data was carefully matched and compared to a control group of another 728,321 individuals who had received only two doses of the same vaccine at least five months before recruitment to the study, from July 30 to September 23, 2021, during Israel's fourth wave of coronavirus.
The comparison indicated that individuals with the third dose had a 93% lower risk of hospitalization, 92% lower risk of severe COVID-19 disease, and 81% lower risk of COVID-19-related death than the control group.
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