Protection following BNT162b2 booster in adolescents substantially exceeds that of a fresh 2-dose vaccine

Ofra Amir, Yair Goldberg*, Micha Mandel, Yinon M. Bar-On, Omri Bodenheimer, Nachman Ash, Sharon Alroy-Preis, Amit Huppert, Ron Milo

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Israel began administering a BNT162b2 booster dose to restore protection following the waning of the 2-dose vaccine. Biological studies have shown that a “fresh” booster dose leads to increased antibody levels compared to a fresh 2-dose vaccine, which may suggest increased effectiveness. To compare the real-world effectiveness of a fresh (up to 60 days) booster dose with that of a fresh 2-dose vaccine, we took advantage of a quasi-experimental study that compares populations that were eligible to receive the vaccine at different times due to age-dependent policies. Specifically, we compared the confirmed infection rates in adolescents aged 12–14 (215,653 individuals) who received the 2-dose vaccine and in adolescents aged 16–18 (103,454 individuals) who received the booster dose. Our analysis shows that the confirmed infection rate was lower by a factor of 3.7 (95% CI: 2.7 to 5.2) in the booster group.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1971
JournalNature Communications
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

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© 2022, The Author(s).

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