Israel begins administering the fourth dose of the anticovid vaccine to those over 60 years of age

First modification: 03/01/2022 – 12:48Last modification: 03/01/2022 – 12:47

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Tel Aviv (AFP) – Israel began this Monday to inject a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people 60 years of age and over, in the midst of an increase in cases caused by the omicron variant.

On Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that all Israelis over the age of 60 and medical personnel will be able to receive a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine if they were vaccinated with a third dose more than four months.

The government is betting on this fourth dose to try to mitigate the effects of the new wave of infections in the most vulnerable people.

“The omicron wave is here and we have to protect ourselves,” said Bennett, whose government approved the fourth dose for immunosuppressed people on Thursday, following a booster-dose campaign that began last summer.

Since Monday, people over 60 years of age began receiving those doses at the Ishilov medical center in Tel Aviv, an AFP journalist observed.

In addition, Israel received a first delivery of anti-coronavirus pills from Pfizer on Thursday, at a time when the number of COVID-19 infections continues to rise, after the first omicron case was detected at the end of November.

In the last 24 hours, the country registered 6,562 records, 50% more than the previous day, according to a balance from the Ministry of Health. However, of these, only 110 are serious cases.

© 2022 AFP

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