Starting Sunday, Israel has begun offering covid-19 booster shots to everyone above the age of 12.
Back in July, Israel became the 1st country to administer booster shots to its senior citizens. Since then started lowering the age of eligibility gradually.
Now 1 month later this campaign has started to show its effect as the rise in illness caused by the Delta Variant has slowed down.
When announcing the latest decision, Israel health officials said the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech has lowered down after 6 months of taking the second dose.
Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health at Israel’s Health Ministry said, “The third dose brings us to the level of protection achieved by the second dose when it was fresh,”
Recommended Read: Israel COVID-19 Study: Natural Immunity Superior to Vaccine Against Delta Variant
According to the latest mandate, if 5 months have passed after taking the 2nd dose, you’re eligible to receive the third shot. Even though the time frame for a booster shot is shorter than 8 months span announced by the US Government to cut down the waiting line.
Recommended Read: US to Roll Out Booster Shots from September 20
At the time of writing this post, 2 million people out of 9.3 million have already received 3 doses of vaccine.
In a statement, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “There are already results: the increase in severe morbidity has begun to slow, But we have to complete third doses for all of our citizens. I call on those aged 12 and up to go out and immediately take the third shot.”
Even though the World Health Organization recommends vaccinating the population with at least the first dose over offering them COVID booster shots.
Along with Israel – America, France, Germany, & Canada are considering booster shot campaigns.
