Protection of BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster against Covid-19 in Israel

Abstract

Background: On July 30, 2021, the administration of a third (booster) dose of the BNT162b2 messenger RNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) was approved in Israel for persons who were 60 years of age or older and who had received a second dose of vaccine at least 5 months earlier. Data are needed regarding the effect of the booster dose on the rate of confirmed coronavirus 2019 disease (Covid-19) and the rate of severe illness.

Methods: We extracted data for the period from July 30 through August 31, 2021, from the Israeli Ministry of Health database regarding 1,137,804 persons who were 60 years of age or older and had been fully vaccinated (i.e., had received two doses of BNT162b2) at least 5 months earlier. In the primary analysis, we compared the rate of confirmed Covid-19 and the rate of severe illness between those who had received a booster injection at least 12 days earlier (booster group) and those who had not received a booster injection (nonbooster group). In a secondary analysis, we evaluated the rate of infection 4 to 6 days after the booster dose as compared with the rate at least 12 days after the booster. In all the analyses, we used Poisson regression after adjusting for possible confounding factors.

Results: At least 12 days after the booster dose, the rate of confirmed infection was lower in the booster group than in the nonbooster group by a factor of 11.3 (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.4 to 12.3); the rate of severe illness was lower by a factor of 19.5 (95% CI, 12.9 to 29.5). In a secondary analysis, the rate of confirmed infection at least 12 days after vaccination was lower than the rate after 4 to 6 days by a factor of 5.4 (95% CI, 4.8 to 6.1).

Conclusions: In this study involving participants who were 60 years of age or older and had received two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine at least 5 months earlier, we found that the rates of confirmed Covid-19 and severe illness were substantially lower among those who received a booster (third) dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine.

Figure 1. Study Population.

The participants in the study included persons who were 60 years of age or older and who had been fully vaccinated before March 1, 2021, had available data regarding sex, had no documented positive result on polymerase-chain-reaction assay for SARS-CoV-2 before July 30, 2021, and had not returned from travel abroad in August 2021. The number of confirmed infections in each population is shown in parentheses.

Figure 2. Reduction in Rate of Confirmed Infection in Booster Group as Compared with Nonbooster Group.

Shown is the factor reduction in the rate of confirmed infection among participants who received a third (booster) dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine as compared with those who did not receive a booster dose, according to the number of days after the administration of the booster dose. Because of wide confidence intervals, only days 1 through 25 are shown. The dashed horizontal line represents the level at which the booster dose provided no added protection. The 𝙸 bars represent 95% confidence intervals, which have not been corrected for multiplicity.