Rambam serological survey to show COVID antibody level after 6 months

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The Rambam Health Care Campus launched a serological survey on Monday to help determine if antibodies are really going down and a Pfizer vaccine booster may be needed after six months.

About 1,500 Rambam employees, as well as retirees who volunteered to participate in the survey, underwent serological tests at the hospital with support from the Ministry of Health.

The results of the test, carried out about six months after these people received their second dose of the vaccine, will be analyzed to help determine the country’s policy.

Pfizer said over the weekend that it plans to seek emergency clearance in the United States in August for a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine, based on early data from Israel that immunity decreases after six months and its own data showing that an additional injection can significantly increase protection against the virus.

Health officials in the United States and the European Union have so far said there is not enough evidence to give such a recall to the general public. Israel also said it was too early to make such a decision, but started vaccinating people with compromised immunity on Monday.

Sheba Medical Center became the first in the world to administer the third stroke on Monday afternoon, giving the vaccine to heart transplant patients. According to Sheba cardiologist Professor Yael Peled-Potashnik, a hospital study showed that less than 80% of heart transplant patients even develop antibodies and less than 50% of them are neutralizing antibodies, which means they can defend a person’s cells against the virus. .

A heart transplant patient receives a booster injection of Pfizer at Sheba Medical Center. (Photo credit: Sheba Medical Center)

“It’s a very exciting time,” Peled-Potashnik said. “Timing is very important to our patients, and we hope it will give them the opportunity to return to normal life. “

In recent weeks, Israel has seen a spike in cases of the virus caused by the Delta variant. Many older people who developed severe cases were already vaccinated, including a couple in the mid-1980s who died of COVID-19 last week while being treated in Rambam. The hospital said they were suffering from underlying medical issues.

“It is very important now [to give the booster] because we now have the emerging Delta variant and waning immunity, so it is really urgent to do it now, ”said Prof. Galia Rahav, director of Sheba’s infectious disease unit. “I hope that in two days we will be able to vaccinate all our [immunocompromised] patients. Rambam has been carrying out a serological survey since the start of the country’s vaccination campaign. The first survey took place in January, about a month after its staff were vaccinated, and the second in April, three months later.

“We have found that most of the subjects in the survey so far have measurable levels of COVID-19 antibodies,” Rambam deputy director Dr Yael Shachor-Meyouhas said of the three-month test . “During this period, we detected a decrease, but it is normal.”

However, she added, “Among staff over the age of 60, a lower level of antibodies to the virus was found in their bodies, compared to other subjects in the survey. It is important to note that until recently, no COVID-19 infections have been observed among staff members. “

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