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- Israel will begin offering booster shots for adults with weakened immune systems, such as those who have had organ transplants.
- The country’s health authorities are still weighing whether the general public needs reminders.
- After a successful vaccine deployment, the country is experiencing another peak in COVID-19 cases.
- Visit the Insider home page for more stories.
Israel announced on Sunday that it would begin offering a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine to adults with weakened immune systems, Reuters reported, but it is still considering whether the rollout should be made public.
After what has been billed as a rapid and successful vaccination campaign in the country, Israel has seen a wave of new infections, mostly from the Delta variant, over the past month. Israel has recorded more than 450 daily cases on average over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University – a far cry from the low double-digit cases recorded in May and early June.
Fifty-seven percent of the Israeli population is fully vaccinated with Pfizer vaccines, raising doubts about the efficacy of the vaccine against the Delta variant. A study conducted by the Israeli Ministry of Health between June 6 and early July showed that Pfizer’s effectiveness increased from 94% to 64%, Bloomberg reported. But the decline in efficiency may also be due to Israel’s lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in June.
Meanwhile, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have said fully vaccinated Americans do not need a booster at this time. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE – the companies that produce the vaccine – said they would meet with U.S. officials on Monday to discuss the need for booster vaccines.
“As real-world evidence released by the Israeli Ministry of Health shows, the efficacy of the vaccine declined six months after vaccination, at the same time as the Delta variant became the dominant variant in the country,” the researchers said. companies in a written statement. , CNBC reported.
In the statement, the companies said they believed “a third dose may be needed within 6 to 12 months of full vaccination.”
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