Booster shots recommended for elderly in Israel

Israeli officials are recommending its citizens 60 and older receive booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The Israeli Health Ministry said it would begin a fresh inoculation campaign on Sunday after it reviewed a paper by Pfizer that indicated the efficacy wore off after six months and amid a new increase in cases due to the delta variant.

The country has already administered the third dose of the Pfizer vaccine to a limited number of severely immunocompromised adults in the past two weeks, the Post reported. 

The health ministry also said that protection against serious illness for those over 60 who were vaccinated in January dropped from 97 percent to 81 percent, according to the Post. 

Health experts said the booster shot campaign was possible due to an expected Aug. 1 delivery of millions of Pfizer doses to the country.

In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the decision to offer booster shots to the elderly “was clear: to preserve life and daily routine in the state of Israel,” the Post reported. 

Health officials suggested that pushing for the elderly to get vaccinated may be the best chance to stop the spike in infections in the country, which has risen up to more than 2,000 per day, the Post noted.