The Israel Ministry of Health (MOH) announced guidelines for the new COVID-19 vaccine booster on Sept. 21.
In the first phase, people at high risk for serious illness from the virus who are aged 12 and older will be able to get the booster beginning in mid-October.
People in the risk group “for severe illness from the virus will be preferred, regardless of the type of vaccine or the number of doses given in the past,” the MOH said in a statement.
At a later phase, when the MOH is able to receive additional vaccines, the guidelines will be expanded, according to the statement.
This time, it will be the Moderna vaccine that will be offered.
Prior to this, since December 2020, Israel has used almost exclusively the Pfizer vaccine. The statement didn’t explain the reasons for the change of manufacturer.
“The vaccines that will arrive in Israel are manufactured by the Moderna company and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” the statement reads.
The first vaccine dose that became available in December 2020 had a take-up rate of about 71 percent in the Israeli population. The second dose had a take-up rate of about 65 percent. The take-up rate for the first booster was about 48 percent, according to MOH data.
The MOH especially recommended in the recent statement that “patients suffering from immunosuppression for any reason get vaccinated against the coronavirus.”
It said that in a later stage and when additional vaccines are available, access will be expanded to include “the entire population from the age of 6 months and older, regardless of the number of doses given in the past.”
The MOH also stated that “pregnant women can be vaccinated against the coronavirus at all stages of pregnancy” and that “breastfeeding women and women planning pregnancy can be vaccinated.”
‘Moderate Increase’
The MOH has distributed its guidelines for vaccination against new Omicron substrains to all four Israeli health maintenance organizations—organizations that provide citizens with health care.The MOH cited its constant monitoring of morbidity trends and coronavirus variants for the new guidelines.
There’s a “moderate increase” in Israel in the number of hospitalized patients, most of whom have a mild case of COVID-19. In addition, there’s a moderate increase in the number of patients in a serious condition, the MOH stated.
The number of individuals hospitalized in serious condition increased in the past three months from 27 on June 24 to 64 on Sept. 24. Those hospitalized in mild condition increased from seven to 32 in the same period, according to the MOH coronavirus dashboard.
The number of average weekly confirmed cases rose from 88 on June 24 to 205 on Sept. 24, according to MOH data.
In a letter to the hospitals, the MOH directed staff to perform PCR tests on all new admissions in internal wards, citing a rise in COVID-19 morbidity.
The letter also noted a lack of hospital testing, which has left officials struggling to track infection rates. Most Israelis are testing for the virus using at-home kits.
Other Countries
Many other countries are also offering or recommending the new vaccines to certain populations.Pfizer has presented no clinical trial data on its updated shot, while Moderna said a study featuring 50 people who received one of the new shots showed that it induced neutralizing antibodies, which are thought to be protective against COVID-19.