Tel Aviv: Israel on Friday was reduced to 50 of the 60 minimum age eligibility for the Covid-19 vaccine shooting and also would offer them to health workers, hoping to stem the surge in Delta variant infection.
The Director General of the Ministry of Health Israel, Nachman Ash, received the final recommendation on Thursday by an expert advisory panel to expand the eligibility of the third shot from the Pfizer -bionech vaccine.
Those who fulfill the requirements will be “more than 50 people, health care workers, people with severe risk factors for Cornoniss, prisoners and wardens,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
After a successful vaccination campaign was launched at the end of 2020 in which around 60% of the population had received two Pfizer vaccine shots, new daily cases fell from more than 10,000 in January to one digit in June.
But with the distribution of Delta variants throughout the world, new infections have jumped in Israel, reaching 5,946 on Monday, and serious diseases also increase.
Israel is 60 years old and above starts receiving booster two weeks ago, ahead of the third dose approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA at the official booster dose Thursday for people with a compromised immune system.
More than 700,000 seniors in Israel have received their third shots, and the Israeli health care provider began on Friday to schedule an appointment for people in the age group 50-59.
An initial survey showed that most people who received the third vaccine dose felt the same side effects or less than they did after receiving the second shot.