In Israel’s COVID-19 wards, doctors are learning which vaccinated patients are most vulnerable to severe illness, amid growing concerns about instances in which the shots provide less protection against the worst forms of the disease. Around half of the country’s 600 patients presently hospitalized with severe illness have received two doses of the Pfizer Inc shot, a rare occurrence out of 5.4 million fully vaccinated people.
The majority of these patients received two vaccine doses at least five months ago, are over the age of 60 and also have chronic illnesses known to exacerbate a coronavirus infection. They range from diabetes to heart disease and lung ailments, as well as cancers and inflammatory diseases that are treated with immune-system suppressing drugs, according to Reuters interviews with 11 doctors, health specialists and officials. Such “breakthrough” cases have become central to a global debate over whether highly vaccinated countries should give booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and to which people…
Even without boosters, Israeli doctors say that vaccinated patients tend to recover more quickly. “The vaccinated patients I’ve treated usually left the ICU in about three days. The unvaccinated patients took a week or two until they stabilized,” said Yael Haviv-Yadid, head of the critical care ward at Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv. Even if the vaccine did not stop them getting ill, it may have mitigated their illness, said Alex Rozov, head of the coronavirus ward at Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon.
“Our cautious impression is that the vaccinated patients suffer an easier course of illness – the treatment is more effective among those who have antibodies.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member