To fight Omicron threat, Israel offers 4th vaccination shot for people over 60

Amid concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Israel is offering a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to medical workers and to people older than 60 years of age.

According to media reports, after a health ministry expert panel recommended a fourth shot late on Tuesday (December 21), Prime Minister Naftali Bennett pushed for it and quickly hailed it as “great news that will help us overcome the Omicron wave that is engulfing the world”. The Israeli PM is going all out to promote the fourth dosage though it is yet to be formally approved by senior health officials.

This decision by Israel to become the first country to provide a fourth dose of the vaccine to fight the coronavirus comes after the first death of an Omicron patient was reported in an Israeli hospital.

PM Bennet said in a public statement issued from his office that the citizens of Israel were the first in the world to receive the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. And, the country will pioneer the fourth dose as well, he said, appealing to citizens who meet the criteria to “Go and get vaccinated”.

The Israeli health ministry meanwhile said in a statement that immunodeficient people will also be eligible for the fourth shot. This dose can be given to the elderly and the medical teams at least four months after the third shot, said media reports.

Also read: US: Omicron now dominant strain, first death reported

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry said there were at least 340 known cases of Omicron in Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli hospital which had recorded the first Omicron death said that the patient, in his 60s, had suffered from serious pre-existing conditions. He had died two weeks after he had been admitted to the coronavirus ward.

In a statement, reported widely by news websites, the hospital had said: “His morbidity stemmed mainly from pre-existing sicknesses and not from respiratory infection arising from the coronavirus.”

More than 4.1 million Israelis out of a population of 9.3 million people have already received three doses of a coronavirus vaccine. Inoculation rates however remained low among teens and young children.

Israel has already imposed a travel ban on more countries including the United States, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Canada in its efforts to combat the spread of the virus.

The government, which is gearing up to tackle 5,000 new cases per day with the help of the military’s Homefront Command, has also given directions to reduce office attendance by 50 per cent for public sector employees to encourage more remote work. It has also instructed children in communities with high morbidity and low vaccination rates to learn from home.