As Israel’s government is deciding whether to approve a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccines, experts have warned that an additional dose is not backed by data and could actually be detrimental to the body’s ability to fight COVID-19.
According to The New York Times, a “panel of experts advising the Israeli government on the pandemic recognized that uncertainty, but on Tuesday it recommended giving a fourth dose, concluding that the potential benefits outweighed the risks.”
The panel “pointed to signs of waning immunity a few months after the third shot, and said that any delay in additional doses might prove too late to protect those most at risk.”
However, some scientists have warned that the plan could backfire because “too many shots might cause a sort of immune system fatigue, compromising the body’s ability to fight the coronavirus.”
Some members of the panel raised that concern specifically about the elderly, who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, according to The New York Times.
Professor Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist and chairman of the Israel Association of Public Health Physicians, pointed out that Israel was not yet seeing a sharp rise in infections, and that there was no evidence an additional shot would reduce the likelihood of severe illness from Omicron.
“I respect the opinion of those who say better safe than sorry,” Professor Levine said in an interview, according to The Times. “and there is no problem with being prepared. But before giving a fourth shot, it is preferable to wait for the science.”
Another opponent, Professor Dror Mevorach, who heads the coronavirus ward at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center, also said it was too soon to recommend an additional dose.
“Just because we led with the third dose does not mean that there should be a fourth dose with no scientific basis,” he said, according to The Times. Mevorach explained that decreasing antibodies over time is natural, and boosting antibodies may have limited benefit.
