Covid-19 in Israel: a fourth dose to fight the Omicron variant
An Israeli hospital has started giving its caregivers a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine in a clinical trial.
Illustrative photo, Jerusalem, December 22, 2021. AP - Oded Balilty
Text by: Michel Paul
2 min
A fourth dose of vaccine against the coronavirus has been tested since Monday, December 27 in an Israeli hospital.
This is a world first.
Advertising
Read more
From our correspondent in Jerusalem
,
The study focuses on the effectiveness of a fourth dose of the anti-covid-19 vaccine, in this case Pfizer.
It targets a sample of 6,000 people including 150 members of medical teams from Sheba Hospital, located in a suburb of Tel Aviv where this experiment is taking place.
The aim is to determine the effect of this new booster on the level of antibodies and also on the prevention of contagiousness.
A new vaccine campaign to come
It is estimated that in the coming days, after the analysis of the first results of this study, a vaccination campaign could begin in Israel.
Apparently the option that will be chosen: a fourth dose for the over 70s, the immunocompromised and also the medical staff.
The decisions of health officials in Israel are often followed in many countries.
For example, the Israeli Ministry of Health has changed its recommendations regarding the timing of booster injections against the coronavirus.
And this was immediately taken up, especially in France.
Even at the risk of Israel colliding head-on with the recommendations of the WHO, the World Health Organization.
For Israeli officials, the idea, of course, is to get a step ahead of the Omicron variant.
Israel, laboratory experimenting with vaccine methodology
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one who set the tone. Immediately, he understood that paradoxically the Covid-19 could serve him as life insurance in a way. Faced with three charges including that of corruption, Bibi has embarked on a desperate race against the coronavirus. He first opened the door to mass vaccination in Israel as early as December 2020. He offered Albert Burla, the CEO of Pfizer a deal: the very first vaccines in exchange for data on the effects of injections on Israelis.
And that's where the Israeli medical system came in. A very well-established, fully computerized system capable of monitoring patients and transmitting data in real time to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
The team put together by Naftali Bennett is struggling to keep up with this momentum.
First, because Israel is no longer the best vaccinated country in the world.
And also because being the first to have vaccinated its population, Israel is also the first country to see the immunization rate decrease in the face of new variants.
In Israel, once again, politics and health are closely linked.
►Also read: Covid: "We are clearly facing an unprecedented wave in terms of speed and intensity"
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Israel
Coronavirus
Vaccines
Benjamin Netanyahu
Health and medicine
our selection