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The Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that Israelis aged 30 and over are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster, expanding the program to days after lowering the minimum age to 40.
The new policy goes into effect immediately and eligible people must turn to their health providers to make appointments, the ministry said.
“We made sure we had enough vaccines for everyone. The vaccination campaign is working efficiently and quickly. Go get vaccinated, ”Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz tweeted on Tuesday.
Only those who received the second dose of vaccine at least five months earlier are eligible for the vaccine.
Israel is the first country in the world to offer a third vaccine to such a large slice of its population, as it seeks to combat the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Last month, Israel became the first country in the world to start offering booster shots to people aged 60 and over, and has gradually lowered the age limit since. On Friday, he began to offer the blow to the 40-49 year olds.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz receives his third dose of COVID-19 vaccine at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba on August 13, 2021 (Avshalom Sassoni / Flash90)
According to data from the Health Ministry on Tuesday, 1,575,898 Israelis have so far received a third dose of the vaccine.
Israel has seen the number of coronavirus cases skyrocket in recent weeks due to the Delta variant. More than 9,800 new cases were reported on Monday and 678 people were in hospital in serious condition with the disease. A total of 6,864 people have died from the virus since the outbreak began last year.
But the first data showed that the booster dose slowed down the flare-up in severe cases.
“There is cautious optimism and we are seeing a reduction in serious morbidity,” Dr Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of the ministry’s public health services, told Channel 12 TV on Friday.
Alroy-Preis told the Ynet news website on Tuesday that more needs to be done to stop the spread of COVID.
“Until we put some sort of restrictions in place that will also significantly reduce morbidity, the numbers will continue to rise, so we need both – we also need to reduce people-to-people contact, which means limiting gatherings. “she said. . She noted that the ministry had suggested limiting gatherings held even under the Green Pass restrictions to 500 people outdoors and 400 indoors.
Eran Segal, a COVID expert and one of the coronavirus cabinet’s senior government advisers, said on Tuesday the rate of severe cases was slowing dramatically.
The first group of Israelis to receive callbacks was aged ≥60 years. The impact is apparent with the divergence of the curves. https://t.co/PcbFJpgJaH pic.twitter.com/cRd6pdajmR
– Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 20, 2021
But at the same time, the number of new daily cases remained high. Segal explained that the booster shot was preventing more new cases from deteriorating into serious condition.
Hebrew-language media reports said the ministry is expected to open the reminder for all ages in the coming weeks.
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