Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer administered fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses to a test group of health workers on Monday, in what it called the first major study into whether a second round of boosters will help contend with the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
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Results of the trial, likely to be closely watched internationally, will be submitted to the Health Ministry in about two weeks, a hospital spokesperson said.
According to Health Ministry data, Israel's coronavirus infection rate now stands at 2.48%, the highest recorded since June. Of the 142,601 people who tested for the virus Tuesday, 2,967 were found to have the disease. The reproduction rate is 1.53, the highest recorded since June 21.
There are 17,260 active cases of the virus. The number of people in serious condition with COVID-19 remains stable at 88. Thirty-nine of those in serious condition are on ventilators. Although 1,346,700 have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 8,243 have died.
Israel was the fastest country to roll out initial vaccinations a year ago and became one of the first to launch a booster program after observing that immunity waned over time.
On Monday, the Health Ministry said it was shortening the time between offering the second and third doses of COVID-19 vaccine to three months from five months in order to beat back rising infections as Omicron spreads.
Concerned about the risk of a sudden surge in hospitalizations, a ministry expert panel last week recommended Israel become the first country to offer a fourth jab to medical workers and those over 60 or with compromised immune systems.
The proposal was welcomed by the Israeli government, which has struggled against a plateauing of turn-out for vaccines, but the expert panel was divided over whether there is enough scientific data yet to justify fourth shots. Final approval by Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash is still pending, and Israeli media say he may limit fourth shots to over 70s.
"The biggest question is: How significant is Omicron? It's clear to all that it is very contagious, but whether it causes very severe illness - that's the most significant question," said Gili Regev-Yochay, who is running the trial.
The Sheba Medical Center study of 150 participants "will zero in on the efficacy of the vaccine in producing antibodies, and safety, in order to ascertain if a fourth vaccine is needed in general", the hospital spokesperson said.
Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist, said more data is needed to gauge whether there has been a drop in protection against severe disease and death provided by the three shots offered so far.
"We can't blindly assume that another shot will solve it all, because it won't," said Levine, who heads Israel's Association of Public Health Physicians.
Some 63% of Israel's 9.4 million population have received the first two vaccine doses, according to ministry data. Almost 45%, a little over half of those eligible, have taken a booster shot. Close to 2,000 confirmed or suspected Omicron cases have been logged and infections have risen sharply over the past week.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been in self-isolation at home since Sunday after his 14-year-old daughter tested positive for COVID-19 with what his office says is probably the Omicron variant. He subsequently tested negative, and his office said on Monday he would continue to work from home.
Meanwhile, in an interview with BBC Radio 4, UK government adviser and regius professor of medicine at Oxford University Professor John Bell said, "The horrific scenes that we saw a year ago of intensive care units being full, lots of people dying prematurely, that is now history, in my view, and I think we should be reassured that that's likely to continue."
Although infections have spiked with the new variant, Omicron "appears to be less severe, and many people spend a relatively short time in [the] hospital."
Bell told BBC Radio 4 that "the incidence of severe disease and death from this disease has basically not changed since we all got vaccinated."
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