(Jerusalem) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday that all Israelis over 60 and medical staff will be able to benefit from a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine, amid a surge in contamination linked to the highly contagious variant Omicron.
Speaking at a press conference devoted to the pandemic, Bennett said the Department of Health had agreed to this 4e dose, two days after it has been administered to vulnerable persons.
“The Omicron wave is here and we need to protect ourselves,” Bennett said.
Health authorities gave the green light to the 4e dose for immunocompromised people, following the booster dose campaign last summer.
Shortly after the vaccination of immunocompromised people began, the director of the Ministry of Health, Nachman Ash, authorized the immediate administration of a 4e dose for residents of retirement homes and patients in geriatric departments.
Israel also received Thursday a first delivery of anticoronavirus pills from Pfizer as the number of contaminations continues to increase since the appearance at the end of November of the first case in the country of the Omicron variant.
The last few days have seen a spectacular jump in COVID-19 cases without, however, at least so far, resulting in a marked increase in hospitalizations.
Authorities on Sunday reported 4,206 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and a 195% increase from a week ago, which could quickly increase pressure on the healthcare system.
“We can expect to have 50,000 new cases per day soon,” warned Bennett, who reiterated his call for mass vaccination for adults and for children who are not yet.
In a country of 9.2 million people, where more than half of the population has already received a booster dose, severe cases are currently concentrated in unvaccinated people, according to data released by authorities.
In total, 1,394,407 contaminations have been identified since the start of the pandemic in Israel, including 8,244 deaths according to official figures.