At Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv, they have already started administering a third shot today, said Professor Eyal Leshem, head of the department for travel medicine and tropical diseases. Anyone with a weak immune system is at such a booster He says, “Even though we don’t have clear evidence of the efficacy of such a third dose yet, we think this group will be better protected.”
Whole population a third shot
In Israel, there is also the question of whether the entire population aged 12 years and older should receive a third dose, for example six months after the second shot. But that is not yet the case. “We are investigating the matter, but we still do not have a definitive answer to it,” Israel’s health minister said on radio yesterday.
The discussion follows reports from producer Pfizer, who last week reported that the vaccine would lose strength after 6 months. The pharmaceutical company claims that an extra vaccination significantly increases the amount of antibodies in the body. It should be noted that the research that would substantiate this claim has not yet been published.
It is a relevant issue for Israel, as the vast majority of the population has been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine. In addition, for many people it has been six months since they received the second dose because of the rapid Israeli vaccination campaign. They would therefore already be eligible for a booster.
Good protection
At the same time, other figures from Israel indicate that most people still have good protection from the Pfizer vaccine after six months. At least that would appear from a research among healthcare workers, who were the first to receive a vaccination in December.
That research is correct, says government adviser Lev, but at the same time, the number of infections is also rising among vaccinated healthcare personnel. “We need to explore how that’s possible.”
In any case, the vaccine also seems to offer good protection against a serious course of corona in the delta variant. “That’s really the most important thing,” Lev says. “The delta variant infects or people who have been vaccinated twice, fortunately we see very few people who become seriously ill.”
NOS op 3 explains in this video how it works with the delta variant:
–
