Israel has decided to go one step further in its campaign to immunize the population against the coronavirus and will apply a third dose of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BionTech starting this Sunday. The people with whom this process will be launched will be the over 60 years old who received the second dose more than five weeks ago.
In this way, Israel will become the first country in the world to administer a third dose of the vaccine against COVID-19. This is a recommendation from the Ministry of Health that has been accepted by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
“Our strategy is clear: safeguard life and safeguard daily routines in the State of Israel”, Bennett said through a statement after the introduction of the ‘covid passport’. The Israeli Government had already recently slipped the possibility of this decision being made before the rise in infections after the expansion of the Delta variant.
Thus, the prime minister himself revealed a few days ago that he was working on this option to combat the pandemic, as did the Minister of Health, Nitzan Horowitz, who already assured in the first days of this month of July that a third vaccine dose would be necessary to reduce the impact of the pandemic.
Increased effectiveness against the virus
The Israeli Government’s decision comes at a time when the debate over the appropriateness of a third dose continues to spread around the world. In this sense, Pfizer has revealed new data that endorse its administration to increase protection against the Delta variant, strain that has a higher transmission capacity than the original.
Specifically, research by the pharmaceutical company showed that antibody levels against this variant in people from 18 to 55 years old who are immunized for the third time are more than five times larger than after a second dose. Meanwhile, in the strip of 65 to 85 years, the Pfizer data indicate that the levels of antibodies to the Delta mutation are 11 times greater than after receiving a second remedy.
Spain, waiting
Pfizer has announced that it could request a emergency use authorization for a booster injection from August in the United States. This position, which has already been adopted by the Government of Israel, could also follow the same path. in the European Union and in Spain, as revealed by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, the last July 23.
“Everything seems to point to the fact that we will have to put a third dose, a booster dose. We have signed a contract with the EU with Pfizer and Moderna. What will have to be determined is when“Darias said in an interview on Onda Cero, where he added that there will be annual vaccination against COVID-19.
However, the Secretary of State for Health, Silvia Calzón, affirmed the last Monday that the Ministry is waiting to gather “more scientific evidence” to determine how our country will finally act with respect to a third dose.
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