Amid Delta variant surge, Israel to offer Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to adults at risk
- Israel said about half of the 46 patients hospitalised in severe condition are vaccinated, and the majority have weak immune systems
- PM Naftali Bennett said he has agreed with Pfizer to bring forward the next delivery of doses to August 1, as the country experienced supply gaps
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said that effective immediately, adults with impaired immune systems who had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine could get a booster shot, with a decision pending on wider distribution.
Pfizer and partner BioNTech, the main suppliers in a swift Israeli vaccination roll-out that began in December, said on Thursday they will ask US and European regulators within weeks to authorise booster shots.
The two companies cited an increased risk of infection after six months in seeking permission for a third shot.
Drawing criticism from some scientists and officials, the companies did not share the data showing that risk, but said it would soon be made public. They also cited recent Israeli data.
“We are examining this issue and we still do not have a final answer,” Horowitz, speaking on Kan public radio, said about a booster for the general population in Israel.
“In any case we are administering as of now a third shot to people suffering from immunodeficiency.”
Covid-19 vaccine leader Israel races to curb jump in Delta-driven cases
About half of the 46 patients presently hospitalised in Israel in severe condition are vaccinated, and the majority are from risk groups, according to the health authorities. About 5.7 million out of Israel’s population of 9.3 million has received at least one dose.
Israel was not going to rush into any decision on booster shots for the general public, Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health at the Health Ministry said.
“It’s rather complex. We’re presently seeing outbreaks largely among children and their parents who weren’t necessarily vaccinated in January and February and we need to identify the [statistical] biases,” Alroy-Preis told Kan.
It was still unclear, Alroy-Preis added, whether the vaccine was simply less effective against the Delta variant and if illness rates among those vaccinated in January and February were higher than for those who were inoculated later.
Horowitz said that separately, the health ministry would plug a Pfizer supply gap for ongoing two-dose inoculations of the general adult population by using Moderna vaccines already in stock.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in broadcast remarks to his cabinet on Sunday that he has agreed with Pfizer to bring forward the next delivery of doses to August 1. The shipment had been widely expected to arrive in September.
There was no immediate response from Pfizer to a request for comment.
