Israeli president receives COVID-19 booster shot

Israeli President Isaac Herzog received a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday following an announcement by the country’s prime minister that Israel would start offering third shots to older Israeli residents, Reuters reported.

The 60-year-old president and his wife, Michal, both received their shots at Sheba Medical Center, located close to Tel Aviv, according to the wire service. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was present at the facility while they received their third shots. 

Herzog said on Friday that Israel’s rollout of the COVID-19 booster shots “is so vital to enable normal circumstances of life as much as possible in this very challenging pandemic,” according to Reuters. 

Just a day ago, Bennett announced that Israel would start rolling out booster shots on Friday to Israeli residents aged 60 years and older who had already received two COVID-19 shots. 

The decision followed a recent uptick in new COVID-19 cases starting around mid-July. According to data from the World Health Organization, Israel has had more than 2,000 new cases in recent days as opposed to hundreds earlier in the month.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, 59 percent of the country’s population is fully vaccinated.

President Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said earlier this week it was likely that certain vulnerable people might need to get a third shot.

“You have got to look at the data. And the data that’s evolving from Israel and from Pfizer indicates that it looks like there might be some diminution in protection. And when you have that, the most vulnerable people are the ones that you were talking about a moment ago, namely, people who have suppressed immune systems, those who are transplant patients, cancer chemotherapy, autoimmune diseases, that are on immunosuppressive regimens,” Fauci said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“And the ACIP, which met on July 22, they discussed that in some detail and continue to look at the data that might push us in that direction,” Fauci added, referring to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which issues recommendations on using vaccines to manage diseases in the U.S.