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Israel mulls booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to elderly: Official

WION Web Team
Tel Aviv, IsraelUpdated: Jul 26, 2021, 11:43 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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Israel had started offering booster shots to vulnerable and immune-compromised people, on a case-by-case basis, from this month

Reiterating earlier findings, the Israel government is planning to give a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNtechn coronavirus vaccine to the elderly population without waiting for the FDA approval.

A health official claimed on Monday that even though the FDA has not yet approved the booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine, the increasing coronavirus cases due to the Delta variant have raised concerns in the country. To fight the 'variant of concern', Israel is considering inoculating the elder population of the country with the booster shot.

"This is the big dilemma. The decision is on our shoulders when we don't have the world's backing. It is a very complex decision," Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said in a health conference on Monday.

Israel had started offering booster shots to vulnerable and immune-compromised people, on a case-by-case basis, from this month.

Meanwhile, Pfizer is seeking US emergency authorisation for the third dose and is aiming to provide a higher level of protection from the deadly coronavirus.

Israel is considering the third shot for the elderly as the country has observed a drop in the effectiveness of the vaccine against the Delta variant. So, in order to fully safeguard citizens against this deadly variant, the government is considering administering the third shot too.

However, some experts have shot back at the government and have claimed that the data may not be completely trusted due to possible bias that could be skewing the data. "I estimate that this data is true, it could be more or it could be less," Ash answered back. "But the signs are, at least here, that immunity is waning."