DETROIT (WXYZ) — A new study done by researchers in Israel shows that a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine could increase your antibodies to protect you from the virus.
“I think this data is too preliminary to give us any direction on the fourth dose," said Dr. Teena Chopra, a professor of infectious diseases at Wayne State University.
Chopra is referring to researched released by Sheba Hospital in Israel.
“What they found was that the antibody went up after the third shot, but whether they were effective against the omicron was really not seen," she said.
At the moment, a fourth shot is being administered in Israel, but not in the United States, where health leaders are still urging people to get their third shot.
“Getting a booster shot protects us from getting severe disease and hospitalization," Chopra said.
As hospitals in our state see record-number COVID-19 patients, there is a push for Michiganders to get their hands on at-home COVID-19 testing kits to help stop the spread of the virus.
“If you have it at your fingertips, it's a lot easier to do and stay quarantined and not infect other people and having to go to a site to get tested," Dr. Asha Shajahan said.
Shajahan, the medical director of community health at Beaumont Health Gross Pointe, says getting an accurate result with the at-home test is all about timing.
“The best thing to do is if you were exposed to COVID or had symptoms to not test right away, wait until day three or five and test during that time because you’re more likely to have an accurate test," she said.
Both doctors say testing and vaccines are tools that will help fight the virus.
“If there is more distribution of the vaccine globally, we can see an end to this virus. When I say end, we want the virus to become and endemic, we don’t want it to remain a pandemic," Chopra said.
For more information on where to get a vaccine or at-home test, visit michigan.gov/coronavirus/
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
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