Israel’s Health Ministry says a team of experts has endorsed a third dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for the older population, becoming the first country in the world to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The health ministry said in a brief statement on Thursday morning that a team of experts had voted in favor of a booster shot, although the experts were divided on whether eligibility should begin at 60 or 70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The recommendation was forwarded to the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Nachman Ash, who is expected to make a decision in the coming days about the vaccine and the target population,” the health ministry said in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, is trying to contain a new surge of coronavirus cases. More than 2,300 new cases were reported on Wednesday, the biggest one-day increase since March 11, and the number in hospital has doubled to 263 in just over a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pfizer reported on Wednesday that a third dose which is given at least 6 months after the second dose strongly increases protection against the Delta variant. It said neutralizing titers against the variant were more than 5 times higher in younger people and more than 11 times higher in older people than after two doses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also on Wednesday, new data showed that the efficacy of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine fell from 96% to 84% over a six-month period, but the overall efficacy against severe disease remained strong at 97%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel’s Health Ministry says a team of experts has endorsed a third dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for the older population, becoming the first country in the world to do so. The health ministry said in a brief statement on Thursday morning that a team of experts had voted in favor of a booster shot, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1590,1786,15,1784,1785],"class_list":["post-32205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-2019-20-outbreak-of-coronavirus","tag-covid-19-vaccine","tag-featured","tag-israel","tag-pfizer"],"yoast_head":"\n