Israel approves fourth COVID vaccine shots for vulnerable over-18s

Israeli Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash has approved a fourth round of COVID-19 vaccines shots for those over the age of 18 who have medical conditions that put them at greater risk from the coronavirus, Report informs referring to The Times of Israel.

The extra doses will also be available for carers of at-risk people, and those whose vocation includes a high chance of exposure to an infected person, the ministry said in a statement.

Fourth shots will only be given at least four months after a person has received their third vaccine dose, the ministry said.

Ash’s approval reflected only partial adoption of the recommendations from a ministry advisory panel that said the additional dose should be made available for all those over the age of 18.

The ministry said the decision to approve fourth vaccines for at-risk groups came on the basis of data showing that a fourth vaccine dose for those aged 60 and up offers 3-5 times the protection against serious illness and twofold protection against infection when compared to just three vaccine doses.

The current wave of infections, which, fueled by the Omicron variant, has driven up the number of seriously ill patients, was also given as a reason by the ministry.

Health Ministry numbers published January 26 showed there were 76,155 new cases of COVID diagnosed the day before.

So far, out of Israel’s 9.5 million population, 6,687,933 have had at least one vaccine shot, of which have had two 6,072,764 and 4,432,322 the third booster as well. Of those, 614,953 have had the fourth booster.

The number of seriously ill patients has jumped over the past week, rising from 539 to 915.

The death toll since the start of the pandemic in early 2020 was given as 8,513, following the death of 14 people the day before.