An Israeli hospital has launched a trial to administer a fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, in a landmark study before a planned nationwide programme.
About 150 medical staff at Sheba Medical Centre, near Tel Aviv, who had their third Pfizer-BioNTech shots in August will receive a fourth shot.
Israel has reported a sharp rise in coronavirus cases attributed to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“Today we gave the vaccine, we know their antibodies, we’ll follow up whether they have side effects,” Prof Arnon Afek, Sheba’s deputy director, told The National.
Healthcare workers at the hospitals volunteered early in the pandemic to participate in a study which measures their antibodies against coronavirus, as well as infections within their families.
Prof Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplant unit, was the first volunteer to receive the fourth shot.
“It’s one small jab in the shoulder, but one giant leap for mankind in the global battle against the Covid infection,” he said.
Plans to offer a fourth shot more widely were announced last week by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The elderly and immunocompromised will be first to receive it.
“I am waiting anxiously for the health ministry to approve giving them a fourth dose,” he said on Tuesday. Health officials have not yet authorised such a step.
Although Israel carried out a fast-paced vaccination drive at the start of the year, in recent months it has fallen behind dozens of other countries.
Sixty-three per cent of the population have received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, while 45 per cent have had three shots, health ministry data show.
The rate is considerably lower in the Palestinian territories, where about 30 per cent of residents have had two doses.
In Israel, Prof Afek said the fourth shot should be available to everyone immediately.
“Omicron spreads so fast that we do not have the chance, or we don’t have the time to wait,” said the professor, a former health ministry director general.
Such a policy would amount to “very careful risk management”, he said, considering the threat posed by the variant.
The government prioritised border controls when Omicron emerged last month, swiftly reimposing a ban on foreign visitors.
Israelis are prohibited from travelling to 68 countries deemed high-risk, including the UAE and the US, without exceptional circumstances.
Although travel restrictions may have delayed the spread of Omicron, infections have risen in Israel in recent days.
There were 1,760 new cases on Sunday, out of a population of nine million. Less than two per cent of samples tested were positive, according to health ministry records.
Infections are considerably lower than in September, when they peaked at about 10,000 per day.
Israel has begun reintroducing curbs on daily life, such as public-sector workplaces operating at 50 per cent capacity.
High school teachers have been told to take their lessons online or outdoors if fewer than 70 per cent of their pupils are vaccinated. Measures are less strict for younger pupils.
Omicron in the Middle East - in pictures
