JERUSALEM | Israel is rendering a “great service” to the world by testing part of its population for the effectiveness of a third dose of the anti-Covid vaccine, its prime minister pleaded Thursday, despite the appeal of the World Health Organization (WHO) in favor of a moratorium on this practice.
• Read also: COVID-19: Washington rejects WHO call for moratorium on vaccine recalls
• Read also: COVID-19: Israel tightens health restrictions
As Western countries strive to vaccinate as many of their populations as possible with two doses against the coronavirus, Israel launched a campaign last Friday for a third dose of vaccine, mainly from Pfizer / BioNtech laboratories, to people aged 60 and over.
President Isaac Herzog and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu notably received this third dose, a booster shot aimed at strengthening the immune system in the face of the spread of the Delta variant, which is more contagious than the others.
However, on Wednesday, the head of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a moratorium on these booster vaccines, in order to leave these doses available to countries which have been able to immunize only a tiny part of their population.
On Thursday, the Israeli government did not issue a statement to respond to the WHO, but questioned by AFP during a video conference, Prime Minister Bennett defended his government’s choice to go ahead with the 3rd dose.
“We don’t just do this for ourselves. On the one hand, we are a small country so it will not affect global stocks (…) and on the other hand we will accumulate knowledge and immediately share it with the rest of the world, ”he said. declared.
“Without us, the world would not know the effectiveness of the booster dose (…) we are therefore doing a great service to the rest of the world,” added the Prime Minister.
Since Sunday and the start of the recall campaign, more than 262,000 Israelis aged 60 and over, or 21% of that age group, have received a third dose, according to the health ministry. And appointments have already been made for 381,000 people, according to this source.
“The elderly have a more developed sense of responsibility and at the same time they are really afraid of being seriously ill if they get an infection,” Shoshana, a 75-year-old resident of Jerusalem told AFP on Thursday. and about to receive his booster shot.
Young people in the sights
A country of nine million people, Israel was one of the first to launch a vast vaccination campaign in December, thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer giving it rapid access to millions of doses fees in exchange for biomedical data on the effects of the vaccine.
This campaign had made it possible to bring down the number of cases, but in recent weeks contamination has increased again with the spread of the Delta variant in unvaccinated adults but also in people vaccinated more than six months ago.
Hence the Israeli government’s wager to administer booster doses in the hope of strengthening the protection conferred by vaccines in the elderly, who are at greater risk.
Faced with the increase in contamination, Israel has also reinstated the health pass. Only people fully vaccinated, cured of COVID-19 or with a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours are allowed to enter a place accommodating more than 100 people, indoors or outdoors.
From August 8, unvaccinated people will have to take a test of less than 24 hours, the Ministry of Health announced Thursday, which also announced to extend the health pass to children under 12 as of August 20.
Currently, 58% of the general population has received two doses of the vaccine, a proportion that is around 90% in those aged 60 and over, but which drops to around 36% in adolescents.
Thursday, Prime Minister Bennett also met “influencers” on social networks, so that they push young people to be vaccinated.
Being unvaccinated “is like walking around with an automatic weapon and throwing the Delta variant at people” all around, he said, warning his government was considering reinstating containment measures if the number of cases and hospitalizations continued to climb.
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