Israel plans to administer fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine

Israel is to start offering a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to some of its citizens, a world first, as concerns over the efficacy of existing shots against Omicron continue to mount globally.

“Israel will become the first country in the world to administer the fourth [dose of a] Covid-19 vaccine. The first group eligible will be people age 60 [and over and] medical personnel,” the Israeli government’s pandemic information centre said on Twitter late on Tuesday.

The decision, it said, would give “greater protection in the face of Omicron”.

Israel has been seen as an early case study for the deployment of coronavirus shots after reaching high, two-dose immunisation levels with the BioNTech/Pfizer shot earlier this year. It then began boosting its population in the summer as the Delta variant swept the country.

Naftali Bennett, prime minister, has ordered the country to prepare for a mass national campaign offering new jabs spaced at least four months after people had received their third jabs.

“This is wonderful news that will assist us in getting through the Omicron wave that is engulfing the world,” he said on Tuesday while also warning that Israel was on the cusp of its fifth wave of the pandemic.

“The citizens of Israel were the first in the world to receive the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and we are continuing to pioneer with the fourth dose as well,” Bennett said.

Israel has almost 350 confirmed Omicron cases, with another 800 suspected, but is bracing itself for a wave similar to that of London and New York, health officials have warned.

As Omicron began to spread last month, Israel closed its borders in an attempt to control contagion.

The world’s richest nations have begun administering third shots of mostly mRNA vaccines to the general population, after preliminary evidence emerged that two doses of existing vaccines generate fewer antibodies against Omicron compared with previous variants.

It is not yet well understood how this translates into efficacy, though global health authorities have signalled that the current vaccines are likely to be less effective against the highly mutated and transmissible variant first identified in southern Africa last month.

Early evidence suggests a third mRNA dose can help increase antibody levels, potentially conferring greater protection against milder forms of disease. Scientists still hope two shots will continue to protect against more severe outcomes.

A number of Covid-19 vaccine makers, including Oxford/AstraZeneca, BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, have begun preliminary work to produce and test Omicron-targeted vaccines in case they are needed.

Fourth doses are not routinely recommended anywhere. Regulators globally, such as the European Medicines Agency, have said they are considering fourth shorts for small subsets of at-risk populations, such as those who are immunocompromised.