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Medicine

COVID Booster Cuts Death Rate by 90%, Israeli Study Finds (usnews.com) 154

Posted by EditorDavid from the big-boost-theory dept.
An Israeli study tracked more than 843,000 people who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine — and then explored whether the results improved for the 758,000 who then also got a booster shot.

The results? HealthDay reports: Boosted folks are 90% less likely to die from a Delta infection than people relying solely on the initial two-dose vaccination, Israeli data show.

That protection will be critically important during the next couple of months as the Delta variant continues to dominate throughout the United States, said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. "While we are preoccupied with Omicron, you need to remember that Delta is essentially in every town and city in the United States today — being transmitted, infecting new people, sending people to the hospital, in some parts of the country stressing the health care system once again," Schaffner said. "Although we have Omicron in the United States and it's starting to take hold, nonetheless well over 95% of all new infections today are caused by Delta...."

A second study out of Israel focused on infection and severity of illness, and it also produced good tidings for boosters in the face of the Delta variant. This study involved nearly 4.7 million Israelis who'd been fully vaccinated with Pfizer and were eligible for boosters. Confirmed infections were tenfold lower in the group of people who got the Pfizer booster, researchers reported. Further, results showed that the longer a booster was in a person's system, the more resistant they became to infection from the Delta strain.
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COVID Booster Cuts Death Rate by 90%, Israeli Study Finds More

COVID Booster Cuts Death Rate by 90%, Israeli Study Finds

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  • And yet ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @01:39PM (#62069913)

    Cue people who don't understand (*) how percentages and statistics work to use this to claim vaccines don't work in 3... 2... 1...

    (*) Or don't want to understand.

    • Re:And yet ... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @02:11PM (#62070003)

      Pretty much. "What, there are vaccinated people dying? The whole thing must be completely ineffective!" Morons. Literally.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by sinij ( 911942 )
        What do you think a chance of unvaccinated individual getting a booster? I am fairly sure it is 0 by definition. As such you need to remember than additional 90% death rate decrease would only be applicable to already vaccinated people and not the whole population. The vaccinated population that already has a very low risk of death from COVID.

        • What do you think a chance of unvaccinated individual getting a booster?

          I get your point, but... Not sure how an unvaccinated person would get a booster w/o first getting the "regular" vaccinations (1 for J&J, 2 for Pfizer/Moderna) unless they brought in a fake vaccination card showing they got the other shots. That said, at the moment, as far as I know, all the boosters are simply smaller doses of the original shots so it doesn't really make that much difference now. I do know the Moderna booster (3rd shot) is half the volume of the 2nd shot. Going forward, it's possibl

          • What do you think a chance of unvaccinated individual getting a booster?

            I get your point, but... Not sure how an unvaccinated person would get a booster w/o first getting the "regular" vaccinations (1 for J&J, 2 for Pfizer/Moderna) unless they brought in a fake vaccination card showing they got the other shots.

            Yup, When I went to get my booster, I had to provide my vaccination card.

            Considering that the original vaccines are still available, it makes no sense for a person who wants vaccination to ask for the booster only.

        • So, low risk... lowered further through vaccination, and then lowered again through a booster. Seems like it's working exactly as intended. What's the problem again?

          • The problem isn't with the vaccine of course, but with the morons who think this proves that they don't work and it's all just a scheme for the government and/or pharma to fuck you

        • It's also the case that even more among vaccinated the vast majority of deaths are concentrated in those who are 65+ and immunocompromised. For these groups vaccines are not as effective (weaker immune response) and a booster can bridge the gap.

          Lumping everyone into the same cohort knowing how stratified the risk is, is telling a lie.

          This is exactly what the FDA VRBPAC committee recommended (before being overruled) - authorize boosters for people 65+ and immunocompromised, not the general populace. Because

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by sfcat ( 872532 )
            You don't usually give vaccines to folks that are immunocompromised. They would usually be excluded from the statistics as otherwise they introduce sampling bias. However, the medical field has big problems with statistics and methodological failings in their research. I've probably seen sampling bias in 80% of the medical papers I've ever read. And the p-hacking scandals of the FDA don't inspire confidence in me. Or to put it another way if you give me raw data, I can design a flawed methodology to sh
            • Two problems with the process; Money, a boat load of it, is riding the line more so than kernels of corn. Our FDA approval is barely even about if the damn drug even works. It only has to be FIVE percent more effective than a placebo and they can market false hope at a cost of $800+ every month. Sometimes its in the thousands.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by puck01 ( 207782 )

              "You don't usually give vaccines to folks that are immunocompromised."

              You mean in a clinical study or in practice or something else. Regardless, this isnt really true. It may be in some circumstances but not all.

              Clinically, the immunocompromised are often those most encouraged to be vaccinated. The exception is live virus vaccines which are in the minority of vaccines. Even live vaccines are still used in immunocompromised patients at times. MMR is live. I recommended at provided it to all my HIV

      • People think a vaccine is medicine running around your body. I explain its more like Cliff Notes for your immune system. Even armed with cliff notes, some people are just too stupid to pass an exam. Sometimes the immune system takes the short bus to school.

    • Cue people who don't understand (*) how percentages and statistics work to use this to claim vaccines don't work in 3... 2... 1...

      (*) Or don't want to understand.

      In fairness, it is only 90% effective at reducing deaths. Since it's not 100% effective it is clearly a failure and no one should get a booster shot because of this.

      It's like when someone only gets a 90% on a test. They are a complete failure.

    • 90% sounds good, I got my booster already, but honestly it doesn't sound good enough and I wish more people would mask in outdoor areas like sidewalks where they're frequently coming very close to other people.

      I'm seeing a lot of statistics-idiocy on all sides of this.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by flink ( 18449 )

        Outdoor transmission is pretty much nil except in very crowded situations where there isn't much air flow. Masking outdoors is mostly performative.

        • That depends on so many factors that a statement likes your is in general: false

          If I sneeze into your face, you easy get it. Regardless of weather, temperature, moisture. And if a 1 yard distance, while I'm breathing is enough: depends if the droplets I breath out, disperse or fall down or float upward before you breath them in.

          So, good luck with your attitude.

          The only way for you to be save from me would be a strong wind and you are standing windward, but then: you would hit me.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sfcat ( 872532 )
      Sure, but claiming this 90% reduction is a bit misleading too. The rate that COVID causes death is something like 0.1% (let's just use that so we can have round numbers, I know its not the number you would use). With a vax shot that falls to like 0.05% and with this booster it falls to 0.01%. This is where the 90% reduction comes from. But there is sampling bias here too as folks that are very weak (and thus are far and away the largest risk) can't take the vax or the booster. Those folks are in the 0.

      • The rate that COVID causes death is something like 0.1%
        It is actually 3% - 3.7%, depending on country.

        After 2 years of COVID and getting bombarded with death ratios: you should know that.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

          Death rate is high in unhealthy USA, https://www.worldometers.info/... [worldometers.info] The rate looks like 1.6% and that's potentially not including undiagnosed people.

          I think educating people in how to strengthen their immune system would be just as beneficial as a booster shot. The government have put all their eggs in one basket with regards to vaccines.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

            Death rate is high in unhealthy USA, https://www.worldometers.info/... [worldometers.info] The rate looks like 1.6% and that's potentially not including undiagnosed people.

            I think educating people in how to strengthen their immune system would be just as beneficial as a booster shot. The government have put all their eggs in one basket with regards to vaccines.

            Strengthening immune systems - to what extent is that possible, and how effective is it? If it's hard to get people to wear masks then I can't see an immune system strengthening strategy working unless it's as trivial as just, maybe, a jab in the arm.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

              Having a strong immune system doesn't just protect against flu viruses it can give a wide range of protection, reducing risk of heart disease, cancer, and protecting against many viruses. Exercise gives all kinds of benefits including reduced inflammation longer lifespan etc.

              The modern lifestyle destroys peoples vitamin D levels in may ways. Sleep deficit lowers vitamin D intake, showering with soaps (detergent) lowers vitamin D intake, sunscreen lowers vitamin D intake. This adds up to half the populations

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

                Having a strong immune system doesn't just protect against flu viruses it can give a wide range of protection, reducing risk of heart disease, cancer, and protecting against many viruses.

                Absolutely, but what are the workable options?

                Exercise gives all kinds of benefits including reduced inflammation longer lifespan etc.

                The modern lifestyle destroys peoples vitamin D levels in may ways. Sleep deficit lowers vitamin D intake, showering with soaps (detergent) lowers vitamin D intake, sunscreen lowers vitamin D intake. This adds up to half the populations of EU, North America and many more countries having vitamin D deficiency which leads to substantially weakened immune systems.

                Is this supported by peer review?

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

                  Feel free to look it up.
                  https://ods.od.nih.gov/factshe... [nih.gov]

                  There are a zillion studies showing the benefits of vitamin d sufficiency and the levels of vitamin d deficiency worldwide, this is fact the same as high blood blood pressure is bad for your heart is fact AKA it is consensus.

                  There is very little vitamin D in food, it is mostly obtained via sunshine creating vitamin D in fatty cholesterol deposits on the surface of our skin. If you're not getting a tan or taking supplements then you're getting vitamin

    • The analogy I've tried to start using is making a basket on a basketball court. You're offered $5000 if you can make the basket from half court.

      Would you rather have 3 attempts or 30?

      With 3 attempts you may very well make the shot. Hell you might sink it on your first attempt. And you could very well miss every time with the 30 attempts.

      You can win or lose in either scenario, but that doesn't mean they're equal and that the person with the 30 attempts has no advantage.

  • With tight enough error bars to justify the conclusions and recommendations.

    Wow.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      Well, that's the difference between a *study* and a *clinical report*. A field observation is what it is, but you generally don't get to claim a result in a study without showing statistical significance.

      This is something the popular press doesn't understand, along with the fact that neither studies nor field observations are necessarily consistently repeatable.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. I already have my booster date in two weeks, but now I feel really good about it!

    • That study tracked more than 843,000 Israelis who had received the full two-dose series of the Pfizer vaccine and were eligible to get a booster. Around 758,000 people from that group actually got the booster.

      There were 65 people in the booster group who died during the study period, compared with 137 in the non-booster group. The study ran through August and September, when Delta was the predominant COVID variant.

      65 deaths in the boosted group works out to a probability of death p = 0.000008575
      137 dea

  • On a related note (Score:3, Interesting)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Saturday December 11, 2021 @02:33PM (#62070093)

    One of the conspirators who attempted to invalidate the presidential election has died of covid. An avowed idiot, he refused to get vaccinated [nytimes.com].

    The best part is he can't vote next year, so that's another vote the fascist candidate for the Republican party won't get.

    • One of the conspirators who attempted to invalidate the presidential election has died of covid. An avowed idiot, he refused to get vaccinated [nytimes.com].

      The best part is he can't vote next year, so that's another vote the fascist candidate for the Republican party won't get.

      Good. One of the really awkward things for these subnormals os that they tend to being old, which makes them more vulnerable to the harsher outcomes of the Covid-19 flu.

      Perhaps, this hill they purposely chose to die on, will allow their life's ending purpose to serve as a warning to others. If he was happy to die stupidly, I am happy that he got what made him happy.

      Same goes for the people in here. When a person stakes their life on conspiracy theories, it seems stupid to most people, but it's what the

    • Re:On a related note (Score:4, Funny)

      by c ( 8461 ) <beauregardcp@gmail.com> on Saturday December 11, 2021 @04:09PM (#62070387)

      The best part is he can't vote next year

      Nonsense. The Republican party has been saying for years that the dead are voting in unprecedented numbers.

  • So, if you have a 99.6% chance of survival, on a relative scale, your chances of surviving are boosted to 99.9% or so.

  • ...that this is just a poly to get more people infected with the 5G mind-chips that control us using the Jewish space laser. Anyone who disagrees with this probably thinks that birds aren't real.

  • "Although we have Omicron in the United States and it's starting to take hold, nonetheless well over 95% of all new infections today are caused by Delta...."

    This will last all of another week or two before Delta starts becoming irrelevant.

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