Covid: Israel administers 3rd dose to vulnerable people
In recent weeks in Israel, the number of cases has picked up again amid the spread of the Delta variant of the virus.
REUTERS - AMMAR AWAD
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Israel began on Monday, July 12, administering a third dose of coronavirus vaccines to patients with weak immune systems amid rising Covid cases linked to the spread of the Delta variant.
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The Hebrew state was one of the first countries to launch a massive vaccination campaign in mid-December thanks to an agreement with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer which quickly supplied the country with millions of doses in return. data on the effects of its vaccine developed with the company BioNTech.
This campaign allowed two doses of the vaccine to be administered to more than 55% of the country's population, or even to about 85% of adults, which helped reopen cafes, bars and shops and a reduction in the number of cases of about 10,000 to less than 100 per day.
But in recent weeks, the number of cases has started to rise again against the backdrop of the spread of the Delta variant of the virus, pushing the authorities to reimpose certain health measures such as wearing a mask in closed public places.
More than 400 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, up from around 200 per day on average a week ago.
There is a question mark next to the Delta variant ...
Hervé Bercovier, professor of microbiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Sami Boukhelifa
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See also:
Covid-19: Israel restores the wearing of masks in closed public places
People with immunosuppression in the crosshairs
In this context, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday that it had authorized the administration of a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine to certain people with immunosuppression, that is to say whose immune system is particularly vulnerable and does not respond. not enough two doses of vaccine to protect against Covid-19.
In the wake of the announcement, Sheba Hospital, located in the Tel Aviv region, announced that it had just administered third doses of the vaccine to vulnerable patients.
The Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories announced Thursday that they would submit "
encouraging results from ongoing trials for a third dose of the current vaccine"
to regulatory authorities in the United States and Europe.
Both companies believe that a third dose could boost antibody levels against the virus and also against the highly contagious Delta variant.
(With
AFP
)
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Israel
Coronavirus
Vaccines