Israel began on Monday January 3 to inject a fourth dose of vaccine against the coronavirus to people aged 60 and over, in the midst of an outbreak of contaminations linked to the highly contagious Omicron variant.
On Sunday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that all Israelis over the age of 60 and medical staff will be able to benefit from a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine if they received their third dose more than four months.
Read alsoIsrael: a fourth dose of Covid vaccine for people over 60 and caregivers
A pioneer in anti-Covid vaccination thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the Hebrew state launched a campaign last summer for the administration of a third dose of vaccine. The government is banking on this 4th dose to try to mitigate the effects of the new wave of contamination in those most at risk. "
The Omicron wave is here and we need to protect ourselves
," said Naftali Bennett, whose government on Thursday gave the green light to the 4th dose for immunocompromised people, following the boosters' campaign. last summer.
As early as Monday morning, people aged 60 and over began receiving these doses at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, an AFP journalist noted on the spot.
Israel also received Thursday a first delivery of anticoronavirus pills from Pfizer as the number of contaminations continues to increase since the appearance at the end of November of the first case in the country of the Omicron variant.
Read also Covid-19: Israel launches its vaccination campaign for children aged 5 to 11
In the last 24 hours, the country has recorded 6,562 cases of Covid, an increase of more than 50% in one day, according to the report of the Ministry of Health which, however, makes a low number of serious cases (110) in this country where more than half of the adult population has received a 3rd dose of an anti-Covid vaccine.