All Israelis over the age of 60, immunocompromised people and medical personnel will be entitled to a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at least four months after their third injection, a world first.
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced Tuesday at a time when the country expresses serious difficulties in containing the spread of the Omicron variant, forcing the government to once again enact a travel ban to around fifty countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Canada.
The decision of the Panel of Experts on the pandemic to approve the fourth dose is “excellent news” which “will help us get through the Omicron wave that is overwhelming the world,” the Prime Minister said earlier.
The Council of Ministers held on Tuesday also restricted dining in shopping centers and decreed that children belonging to communities with high morbidity rates and low vaccination rates should take their classes at home.
As of Tuesday, 1,148 confirmed and “very probable” cases of Omicron had been reported in Israel, more than half of whom were vaccinated people.
More than 4.1 of Israel’s 9.3 million people have received three doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Children between the ages of five and 11 are currently being vaccinated.