Israel begins applying fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine to vulnerable people

Israel launched on Friday a campaign for the administration of a fourth dose of vaccine against the coronavirus vulnerable people, in the hope of mitigating the effects of a new wave of contamination due to the spread of omicron variant.

Exactly one year after launching a major vaccination campaign thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and about six months after starting to administer the booster doses, health authorities gave the green light on Thursday for it to be inoculated. this fourth dose of vaccine to immunosuppressed people.

Since this Friday, the doses are administered at the Sheba hospital, located in Ramat Gan, in the outskirts of Tel Aviv, to people who have had, for example, heart transplants.

This hospital began to apply a fourth dose of vaccine against covid-19 to its health workers on Monday, as part of a test.

Health ministry director Nachman Ash also authorized the administration of a fourth dose on Friday for people housed in nursing homes and for patients in geriatric departments, according to a ministry statement.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared last week that all Israelis over the age of 60 and medical personnel would be entitled to a fourth dose, but this decision has yet to be approved by the Health Ministry.

The Israeli authorities registered 4,000 new cases of covid on Thursday, a record since September that, however, has not been translated so far by a significant increase in hospitalizations.

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