Israel says vaccine booster lowers Covid-19 infection risk in over-60s
JERUSALEM/BUDAPEST: A third dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine has significantly improved protection from infection and serious illness among people aged 60 and older in Israel compared with those who received two shots, findings published by the health ministry showed on Sunday.
The data were presented at a meeting of a ministry panel of vaccination experts on Thursday and uploaded to its website on Sunday, though the full details of the study were not released.
The findings were on par with separate statistics reported last week by Israel’s Maccabi healthcare provider, one of several organisations administering booster shots to try to curb the Delta coronavirus variant.
Breaking down statistics from Israel’s Gertner Institute and KI Institute, ministry officials said that among people aged 60 and over, the protection against infection provided from 10 days after a third dose was four times
higher than after two doses.
A third jab for over 60-yearolds offered five to six times greater protection after 10 days with regard to serious illness and hospitalisation.
Israel started administering third jabs to over 60-year-olds on July 30.
World Health Organization
director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday called for a two-month moratorium on administering booster shots of Covid-19 vaccines as a means of reducing global vaccine inequality and preventing the emergence of new coronavirus variants.
Tedros called on countries offering third vaccine doses “to share what can be used for boosters with other countries so (they) can increase their first and second vaccination coverage”.
New Zealand extended a national lockdown, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying a Delta variant outbreak has yet to peak, with cases topping over 100 on Monday.
China reported no new domestic cases, and Beijing appears poised to bring to heel the pandemic’s most serious resurgence in months with mass testing and targeted lockdowns.
Vietnam’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City, has begun a tightened lockdown to battle the coronavirus, a day after 737 virus-related deaths were reported, its highest single-day total.
In Indonesia, deputy Jakarta governor Ahmad Rizia Patria said the capital city has reached “herd immunity”. He was referring to high vaccination rates in the capital, where more than 54% of residents are fully vaccinated and most have received one shot.