The third coronavirus vaccine shot campaign continues to quell the Delta wave in Israel. The Health Ministry reported Sunday that of the 139,167 Israelis it screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 7,445 (6.21%) tested positive. This compared to last week when the average number of daily cases stood at 10,000.
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The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, has again decreased below 1, and currently stands at 0.9. A reproduction rate of less than 1 means an outbreak is subsiding.
There are 83,809 active cases in the country with 1,191 Israelis hospitalized. Of those, 245 are in critical condition and 195 are on ventilators.
Israel has reported 1,221,713 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic. Thus far, 7,511 Israelis have lost their lives to the virus.
As health officials fear that the latest decision by the Food and Drug Administration panel to only recommend the booster shot to those over 65 or at high risk might discourage Israelis from getting inoculated, the ministry warned that those who are eligible to receive the shot but fail to do so are putting themselves at "unnecessary and completely preventable risk", especially those middle-aged.
It called on all Israelis over the age of 16 to get their booster shots.
"The more of us get vaccinated with the third dose, the sooner we can all get back to a safe return," it said. "Data shows that the third vaccine is effective and safe. The findings of a large study conducted in Israel show that the third shot increases up to ten times the protection against being infected and developing a serious illness, compared to someone who has only been vaccinated with two jabs."
The ministry explained that Israel was several months ahead of the United States in terms of vaccinating its population, and therefore, the FDA ruling was not applicable here.
It emphasized that the experts made their recommendations based on data in the United States, whereas it was working based on the coronavirus situation in Israel.
"Other major countries (such as Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Austria and Italy) decided to go ahead with the third shot similarly to Israel, and did not wait for the FDA's decision on the matter," the ministry said.
"Committee members examined the research data (including from Israel) on the waining of vaccine efficacy over time and the increase in the protection afforded by the third vaccine, and were convinced that the third dose was likely to increase coronavirus protection in these groups. "The vaccine will most likely be approved in the future for other age groups as well in the United States, in stages, as was the case in Israel," the ministry said.
Thus far, 3,040,426 Israelis over the age of 16 have received their third jabs; 6,062,338 have been vaccinated twice, and 5,576,238 got their first jabs.
Meanwhile, health experts told Israel Hayom that the rise in cases over the past three months, commonly referred to as the fourth wave, can probably be attributed to Israel's lack of preparedness for the Delta variant in the wake of the all-but complete eradication of community spread.
Israel was ranked as one of the countries with the lowest coronavirus morbidity among member states of the Organiזation for Economic Cooperation and Development as of June 13, but with restrictions and social-distancing measures being lifted rapidly in the preceding months, conditions were ripe for the spike in infections once the highly contagious Delta variant arrived in Israel in July. "The government was unwilling to heed to the warning of experts...we failed to realize that the vaccine's efficacy levels dropped after several months, and this made infections rampant despite the high vaccination levels among the population," one expert told Israel Hayom. As of mid-September, Israel ranked highest in coronavirus morbidity among OECD members, as well as fifth in mortality.
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