Israel, who late last year was the initial trailblazer in its efforts to provide the first dose of coronavirus vaccine to its citizens, now planning to offer the fourth dose in an effort to curb the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
It is believed to be the first country to offer a fourth round of a dose.
And as with previous inoculation efforts, countries around the world will look for Israel because of instructions on how their own campaign may cost.
PM Naftali Bennett praised the step as “beautiful news that would help us in the omicron wave that swallowed the world.” He added, “Israeli states continue to stand at the forefront of global efforts to handle pandemics.” On Tuesday, he said that the medical team would begin to provide fourth vaccine doses to people over 60 years and for medical workers.
At least one person in the country was confirmed to have died because of the Omicron variant – an older man who received two doses of vaccines but was not the third, a health official said on Tuesday.
The US CDC said in October that some adults with a compromised immune system would be eligible for the fourth shot by modera and pfizer-bionech.
The number of Omicron cases in Israel doubled on Tuesday for 340, the Ministry of Health said, while the total number of Covid cases rose to 1,306 – the highest daily number in almost two months, even though it was still proportionally lower than in many developed countries.
Professor Lawrence Virology Young at the University of Warwick in England, said it was difficult to justify a fourth shot “in a situation where around 73% of people in middle-income countries (fully or partially) were vaccinated …
whereas only 12% vaccinated in Africa”.
Director General of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the booster should not be seen as the only way to deal with a pandemic when other countries struggled to launch a shot.
“There is no country that can increase the way out of the pandemic,” he said in Geneva.
“The Booster blanket program tends to extend a pandemic rather than ending it.” Elsewhere, the government racing contains a rapidly spread variant, urging residents to vaccinate because Omicron becomes the dominant tension.
Germany, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and South Korea have reached partial or full locking or other social distance steps in the past few days.
Wales will reintroduce social distance from December 26.
German health minister said he did not rule out full locking.
Italy is preparing new steps and may make mandatory vaccination for more worker categories, said PM Mario Draghi.
Austria is to order 10 o’clock at night.
Closed in the Hospitality and Secrets of England, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway as a risk area, the meaning of coming from there must enter quarantine if they do not have a booster.
Belgium, the Czech Republic and Spain also consider new restrictions.
Policy makers around the world scramble to overcome economic punches that might come from new outbreaks.
About 300 South Korean business owners protested in Seoul against returning strict social distance rules, urging the government to memo “vaccine pass” and offset losses