Due to waning immunity, specialists believe an immunisation booster is now required. According to early data, three side effects were reported when the fourth dose was administered.
The coronavirus vaccine has had a positive impact on the outbreak, reducing hospitalization and death rates across the country. However, decreasing immunity has posed the next stumbling block in the vaccine campaign.
Thousands of susceptible people will be brought forward for a top-up this week in an effort to combat diminishing immunity.
Some negative effects have been identified based on data acquired from Israeli research earlier this year.
The side effects of a second booster dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine are mild, according to preliminary data released in January.
The results were acquired during a January study at Sheba Medical Centre, which gave its personnel the second booster shot in the wake of a statewide outbreak of Omicron infections.
150 medical staff received a fourth dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine after their antibody levels had decreased dramatically since receiving their third dose four to five months before.
The negative effects of the fourth and third doses of the vaccination did not differ significantly, according to the researchers.
According to Reuters, the Medical Centre did mention that adverse effects included discomfort, fever, and headaches.
Additionally, the Israeli trial, conducted in January by the Sheba Medical Centre, indicated that the fourth booster dose raised antibody counts fivefold after a week of administration.
Body aches, headaches, and fatigue have been the most prevalent adverse effects reported after the third dose, with some people also reporting chills and swollen lymph nodes.
Such side effects, according to scientists, are a sign that the immune system is reacting to the shots.
In January, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet addressed reporters:: “A week into the fourth dose, we know to a higher degree of certainty that the fourth dose is safe.
“The second piece of news [is] we know that a week after administration of a fourth dose, we see a fivefold increase in the number of antibodies in the vaccinated person.
“This most likely means a significant increase against infection and hospitalisation and severe symptoms.”
Recently, the medical center published a report in the New England Journal of Medicine detailing the efficacy of a fourth dose, which was a first for the institution.
The study confirmed that the 4th shot “did not lead to substantial adverse events despite triggering mild systemic and local symptoms in the majority of recipients”.
However, the authors of the study claim that giving a fourth round to those who have been vaccinated and boostered with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot may only provide “marginal benefits.”
They added: “Our cohort was too small to allow for accurate determination of vaccine efficacy.
“However, within the wide confidence intervals of our estimates, vaccine efficacy against symptomatic disease was 65 percent at most.”
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