An early summer outbreak of West Nile virus in Israel has claimed the lives of two individuals, both women in their 80s, according to the country's Health Ministry. The mosquito-borne virus has been diagnosed in 21 people, with 17 of them hospitalized due to neurological symptoms.

The Health Ministry states that while most infected individuals do not display symptoms, approximately 20% of those affected, primarily the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, will develop flu-like symptoms. These symptoms may include fever, general malaise, headaches, or body aches. In less than 1% of cases, neurological complications may arise.

Although West Nile virus is not uncommon in Israel, this year's outbreak occurred earlier than usual and affected a significant number of people. The first reports of the outbreak emerged earlier this month in north Tel Aviv.

The center of Israel is considered a high-risk area for the disease due to the region's high humidity, which creates an ideal breeding environment for mosquitoes. As a result, residents in this area are urged to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites and limit the spread of the virus.

Health authorities are closely monitoring the situation and have implemented measures to control the mosquito population and minimize the risk of further infections. The public is advised to stay informed and follow the guidelines provided by the Health Ministry to protect themselves and others from the West Nile virus.

The post West Nile virus kills 2, hospitalizes 17 in Israel appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A NIS 250,000 ($78,500) lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by prosecutors on behalf of the Director of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss against a vaccine protester who allegedly leads a smear campaign against the official.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Yosefa Barak Tamir is accused of publishing "false and offensive" posts on social media that targeted Elroi Preiss and even using her relatives and underage son.

According to the lawsuit, Barak Tamir shared over 60 such posts in the past two and a half weeks alone, all of which were part of a systematic campaign aimed at defaming the senior Health Ministry official.

Elroi Preiss is seen by many as the face of the government's pandemic policies. In the past months, she has become the target of opprobrium by anti-vaxxers and was even assigned a private security detail in December last year after police determined she was the target of credible death threats.

The prosecutors stressed that while criticism of officials is not inherently illegitimate, and is, in fact, part and parcel of a healthy democracy, Barak Tamir's posts were "a deliberate attempt to violate the plaintiff's good name and professionalism … and to undermine public confidence" in the Health Ministry.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Senior Health Ministry official suing anti-vaxxer for $80,000 appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Health Ministry announced on Wednesday it would expand its so-called subsidized "drug basket" that allows Israelis to pay for medicine and health technologies.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

A committee submitted a list of 135 recommended medications and treatments for 2022, worth $175.5 million. Following 18 meetings that took place over a span of three months, the committee members finalized the list, choosing from 850 medications altogether.

New subsidized medications include artificial pancreases for children with diabetes, genetic testing for rare diseases, fertility preservation for women with diminished ovarian reserve, treatments for multiple sclerosis, prostheses for amputees, transportation funding for children in need of dialysis, cochlear implants, treatments for transgender people, including voice therapy valued at $638 million, and more.

Fifteen new treatments were added this year for patients with cancer, lung, and gastrointestinal cancer, making up 20% of the allocated budget.

Horowitz said the committee members "did an amazing job," adding that the subsidized treatments include "super-advanced drugs and technologies in the fields of mental health, rehabilitation, funding innovative cancer treatments, treatments for transgender people, lowering the price of PrEP [pre-exposure prophylaxis taken to prevent getting HIV], adding another drug for HIV patients and assistance to a very wide range of people."

Israel's LGBT association, known as The Aguda, tweeted, "The decision of the Health Basket Committee determines what is already clear to health systems around the world – gender reassignment surgeries are life-saving.

"Since the 1980s, gender reassignment surgery has been in the health basket, and voice treatments are usually funded by the health funds. The decision today will alleviate the total uncertainty for those who find it more difficult to assert their rights."

Israel's annual health budget is roughly $14 billion.

"We have made every effort to ensure the citizens of the country receive the technologies that should be included in the basket as soon as possible," the coordinator of the committee, Dr. Osnat Luxenburg, said.

Nevertheless, several crucial treatments and medications did not make the list, such as Darzalex, which treats multiple myeloma (cancer of plasma cells), diabetes medications Ozempic and Rybelsus, which were omitted in part due to concerns of their misuse as these are also sold for weight loss purposes.

Qinlock, which treats gastrointestinal cancer and costs 300,000 shekels per patient, was also not included, with committee members sayings the price was "obscenely expensive."

Additional treatments left out of the basket were a pregnancy termination for women aged 33-40 for non-medical reasons and Xospata, which treats acute myeloid leukemia (cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells).

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israel's subsidized 'drug basket' good news for cancer, transgender patients appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash approved on Friday a fourth coronavirus vaccination shot to residents of assisted living facilities citing their vulnerability to infections. Doses will also be available for nursing home staff who also wish to get innoculated.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Already on Thursday, Ash gave the green light to a fourth jab to begin administering the fourth jab to the immunocompromised, such as cancer patients and organ transplant recipients.

With time, "the effectiveness of the booster decreases. We have seen that there is a difference [in antibodies] in a vaccine that was administered recently or fourth months ago. Therefore, I have approved the fourth jab for the immunocompromised due to concerns that they are more vulnerable to the Omicron outbreak," Ash said.

Last week, an advisory panel recommended the fourth jab for Israelis over the age of 60, those with preexisting conditions, and healthcare and nursing home workers. And although Ash accepted the experts' recommendation only partially he said if the Health Ministry sees "signs showing severe illness is expected to rise among the older populations," then the rollout will be expanded."

Nevertheless, in the meantime, "given the gaps of knowledge that exist around the world regarding the efficiency of a fourth dose in the current circumstances, we are acting cautiously and responsibly," Ash said.

The health chief spoke at a special press conference on Thursday that was also attended by Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Director of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss, and Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka.

The press conference took place against the backdrop of a steady increase in the COVID infection rate in recent days, with the senior health experts announcing new restrictions on public life.

According to Ash, the number of participants in outdoor gatherings will not be limited, for now, however, a recommendation has been made to limit outdoor gatherings of over 100 people only to vaccinated Israelis, pending approval. Mask will also be mandated outdoors in outdoor gatherings of over 50 people.

According to Ash, "the healthcare system needs to prepare for the wave of [Omicron] morbidity. We are strengthening the hospitals, as we did in previous waves. Back then, the system dealt with a high number of hospitalized and patients on ventilators, and as such, it must be prepared this time."

Preliminary data on Omicron infections are milder than those caused by other variants, however, the surges have already started stretching Israel's healthcare system, with hospitals filled up with patients suffering from complications of the seasonal flu.

Over four million Israelis have received the third vaccine shot since the beginning of the booster campaign in August.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post At-risk population, nursing home residents to receive 4th COVID jab appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israel is seeing an increase in the number of COVID cases among children, and the healthcare system is already at peak capacity in the intensive care units, Chief COVID-19 Officer at the Health Minister Professor Salman Zarka said Monday at a meeting of government officials.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The number of confirmed COVID cases in Israel now tops 1,000 for the first time in two months, the Health Ministry reported Monday morning.

The 1,004 new cases identified by testing in the last 24 hours is the highest since Oct. 20, and the reproduction rate in Israel continues to rise, reaching 1.22 on Monday, compared to 1.14 on Sunday. This means that every confirmed COVID carrier spreads the virus to an average of 1.22 other people.

There were 7,231 active or symptomatic COVID-19 patients in Israel on Monday, including 81 listed in serious condition. A total of 42 hospitalized patients were on ventilators. The total death toll from COVID-19 since the pandemic hit Israel in early 2020 stands at 8,232, with no new deaths reported since Saturday, Dec. 18.

On Sunday night, Zarka said in an interview to Israel Hayom that he expected there would be "thousands" of COVID patients in Israel within two weeks.

"We're heading into a wave that's unlike anything we've seen in the past. The numbers will be higher," he warned.

"The Delta variant was a very contagious wave, whereas Omicron is two to four times as contagious. The fact that today [Sunday] we have 175 confirmed Omicron cases is the result of our rapid response three weeks ago, when we stopped tourism. Without that, we could already have thousands," Zarka said.

Zarka also noted that the Health Ministry's strategy to combat Omicron was to open some 500 vaccination sites by the end of this week, some of which will be located at shopping centers and community centers, in addition to vaccination-mobiles. The ministry hopes to make vaccinations accessible as possible to both children and adults, he said.

"We're very worried about the Omicron wave, which has already begun. If we look at Europe, we realize that we're two-three, at the most – weeks away, and we're trying to translate that to as much protection as possible among the population," he said.

Zarka stressed that vaccines provides the best form of protection: "This week, we're at about 80 vaccination sites and we want to increase that to 400-500, and I hope it will happen this week and at the start of next week. We need to do it for the sake of the people, from the realization that it's wrong to meet Omicron when you're not protected. In addition, we're working to make the community clinics more accessible so no one will have a problem coming to be vaccinated. We'll wash the country in vaccines," he said.

Zarka spoke after last week the percentage of children in the Arab Israeli center vaccinated against COVID jumped from 1.1% to 4.6%.

Healthcare authorities believe the increased vaccination rate to be the result of the campaign to provide vaccinations in schools.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The first week Israel deployed vaccination-mobiles at public schools, a total of 11,745 children and 450 adults were vaccinated for COVID. The Health Ministry plans to expand its vaccination campaign and enlist hospital personnel to help with it. A senior ministry official said that the number of mobile vaccination stations would be increased from 50 to some 150, and that they would visit some 500 sites a day.

For now, the ministry has avoided taking advantage of the IDF Home Front Command's logistical capabilities to execute the campaign.

Meanwhile, a senior official in the government's campaign against COVID said that the country's contact tracing system was not prepared to handle a wave of new confirmed cases and that new personnel needed to be hired immediately.

"The current number of contact tracers is enough to handle 500 to 1,000 confirmed cases [per day], but when the numbers are on the rise, we need to prepare for the next stage, of 1,000 to 3,000 confirmed cases per day," the official said.

"The reason we aren't doing that is because there are some people who won't approve the budget for it, and it's frustrating. If we don't build up our personnel now, and quickly, we won't be able to handle the pace of contact tracing, no two ways about it. In two or three weeks we'll have a hard time with it," the official added.

The post Chief COVID Officer warns ICU units in Israel already at 'peak capacity' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Despite the arrival of the troubling Omicron coronavirus variant in Israel, the reproduction rate decreased from 1.07 to 1.03 on Tuesday, according to Health Ministry data. 

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Of the 108,300 screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 636 (0.63%) tested positive. The infection rate stands at 0.63%. There are currently 5,570 active cases in the country, with 158 patients hospitalized. Of those, 117 are in serious condition. 

Israel has reported 1,343,218 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, including 8,195 deaths. 

Thus far, 4,078,395 Israelis over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated, 5,775,598 received two doses, and 6,326,037 got their first jabs. 

According to the ministry's director of Public Health Services, Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss, the new strain is cause for alarm. 

Speaking at a Knesset committee meeting on Tuesday, she said, "There's no chance the vaccine will be as effective against Omicron as it is against Delta. We must buy time to understand the new variant, whether it is deadly and if it harms children.

"What worries us the most is the rapid spread of the mutation in South Africa. The number of cases went from 200 to 2,000 in just two days. They described how one person infected many others, both vaccinated and unvaccinated. From what we hear, vaccinated individuals do not exhibit significant symptoms, but this is just preliminary data … It will take a few weeks" to know more. 

According to latest data, coronavirus hospitalizations have increased by 330% in the South Africa's Gauteng region, where the variant was first detected.

According to scientists, Omicron has 50 mutations, at least 30 of which are in the spike protein, which the virus uses to infect human cells and which current vaccines focus on to boost the body's immune system to combat COVID-19. As such, Omicron has a heightened ability to transmit and evade antibodies.

Elroi Preiss also said she would soon receive data from South African health officials on the effectiveness of the vaccine against the new strain. 

Also on Tuesday, CEO of Moderna vaccine manufacturer Stephane Bancel told British paper Financial Times that existing vaccines will most likely be much less effective at tackling Omicron, and warned it would take months before vaccine manufacturers would adapt their doses.

Meanwhile, CEO of Pfizer pharmaceutical giant Albert Bourla told media on Monday the company had begun tweaking its vaccine to better protect against Omicron, a process that will take around 100 days. 

He stressed there might not be a need for the inoculation because Pfizer was able to create vaccines for the Beta and Delta COVID-19 mutations, but they were never used because the original shots remained effective. 

Nevertheless, the impact of Omicron on Pfizer's two-dose vaccine remains to be seen.

"I don't think that the result will be the vaccines don't protect. I think the result could be, which we don't know yet, the vaccines protect less," Bourla told CNBC news. 

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post COVID hospitalizations soar by 330% in region where Omicron first detected appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The coronavirus infection rate remained low over the weekend (0.72%) with 220 Israelis testing positive for the virus of the 34,339 screened altogether, according to Health Ministry data. The reproduction rate stands at 0.88.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

There are 5,843 active cases in the country with 205 patients hospitalized. Of those, 156 are in serious condition.

Thus far, 4,016,195 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,752,941 received two jabs and 6,256,219 got inoculated with one dose.

Israel has reported 1,337,041 cases, including 8,140 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka said the national children's vaccination campaign would begin next week and that Israel was awaiting a shipment of Pfizer's special kids' doses – which are just a third of the amount given to teens and adults.

Last week, a ministry advisory committee had endorsed Pfizer's inoculations for ages 5-11, which according to Zarka, Director-General Nachman Ash is expected to approve on Sunday.

Ash had previously assured parents of the doses' safety and stressed that "anyone who gets vaccinated reduces the chance of a fifth [morbidity] wave erupting. It is not right to wait for an increase in infection, we do not know when this will happen and vaccines need time to work. Even now, 200 children get infected every day, and we want to prevent that."

The kids' doses have already been authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With regard to possible future infection waves, Zarka said the ministry was keeping a close watch on other strains across the world.

"It would be difficult to prevent a variant from invading Israel, but we very much want to identify it early and therefore we are keeping our fingers on the pulse," he said.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israel to begin children's COVID vaccination campaign next week appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israeli health officials will decide behind closed doors whether to allow child COVID-19 vaccinations.

Citing concerns that decision-makers would otherwise not speak freely due to aggressive anti-vax rhetoric by portions of the public, the decision was made Tuesday not to broadcast Wednesday's discussion live.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

It was further decided that the public would only be informed of the distribution of votes and would not be able to learn how each member of the committee voted.

Israel has been a world leader in vaccinations and more than 40% of the population has received a third shot.

Following the green light given by the US Food and Drug Administration for using the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on children aged 5-11, the Health Ministry will convene the decisive discussion on the matter with experts on whether to follow suit.

A discussion last week was broadcast live.

"All the considerations for and against this decision were discussed, including the ability to hold a free and open discourse on such a sensitive and crucial issue against the backdrop of a prevailing violent discourse, which may affect the course of the discussion," the ministry said.

There have been an increasing number of threats against Health Ministry officials, police say, while Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, and the head of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, have been assigned personal security details due to threats against them and their families.

On Wednesday morning, meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported that 564 new cases of the virus had been confirmed since Tuesday (for a 0.66% positive test rate out of 86,479 administered tests), bringing the total number of active cases in Israel to 6,198.

Among the active cases, 161 people were considered to be in serious condition with 107 of those patients attached to ventilators.

Nearly 4 million Israelis have received a third vaccination dose (3,996,567), while 5,746,166 have received two doses and 6,250,208 have received one dose. Since the beginning of the outbreak, 8,124 people have died in Israel of COVID-related causes, 17 of them in the past seven days.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Health officials to vote on child COVID vaccinations behind closed doors appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

With the flu season approaching fast, health funds across Israel have called on the public to get vaccinated against the influenza virus, especially given the burden the healthcare system already experiences due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"We are entering winter amid the fourth [infection] wave with the highly contagious Delta variant," Bat Sheva Gottesman, an expert on infectious diseases at Clalit Health Services, said. "The daily number of verified cases is high, the economy is open, the education system resumed work as usual, as did the tourism industry – all of which are conditions that contribue to the spread of the flu."

Health funds began administering flu shots in the beginning of September. Just like last year, the flu inoculation campaign takes place at the same time as the coronavirus vaccine program, with extra focus on Israelis over the age of 65, those with chronic diseases, pregnant women and children under the age of 12.

"Getting vaccinated against the flu is more important this year than ever," Meuhedet Health Services said in a statement, encouraging members to get inoculated.

According to Health Ministry guidelines, a flu shot and a coronavirus vaccine can be administered at the same time, preferably in two different arms. It recommends getting inoculated against the flu annually as it is a virus that changes every year.

At the same time, the ministry reported that of the 69,776 Israelis it screened for the coronavirus on Saturday, 2,616 (3.96%) tested positive. The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, is 0.81.

There are currently 63,022 active cases in the country, with 1,026 Israelis hospitalized. Of those, 284 are in critical condition and 215 are on ventilators.

Israel has reported 1,263,896 cases, including 7,649 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

According to ministry data, 120,301 students and 3,367 education workers are currently in self-isolation. Of the students in quarantine, only 27.3% are vaccinated. Thus far, 6,086,218 Israelis have been fully inoculated, 5,611,442 received one vaccine shot and 3,189,477 got their third jabs as well.

In the meantime, an international study published this week has found that flu vaccines have the ability to curb coronavirus infections too, as well as prevent serious illness and hospitalizations.

The research was conducted by four scientists from the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, examining the period of time before the start of coronavirus vaccine campaigns worldwide.

It studied the information provided by 75,000 digital medical files of patients from around the world, including the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany, Singapore and Israel. The study included two groups – patients who got infected with the coronavirus without a prior flu shot and patients who received their influenza shot half a year to two weeks before being diagnosed with COVID.

The study found that those who did not get vaccinated against the flu were 40% more likely to require hospitalization, and twice as likely to have a stroke or develop blood clots in veins and lungs as a result of getting infected.

The researchers concluded the paper by emphasizing the benefits of flu shots for nations that do not have access to coronavirus vaccines yet, or to populations that are not yet eligible for the inoculation. In Israel, that would be children under the age of 12.

Meanwhile, in a Zoom meeting that happened moments before Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took off for New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, he responded to criticism of mishandling the current wave of infections and demands for lockdown.

"Self-isolation, lockdowns and additional restrictions are the easy option, but not solution," he said. "Those present here should know better than anyone how much effort we invest every day to manage [the pandemic] better and save lives.

"I think about the patients, truly, every single person in the coronavirus ward causes heartache, but I also think about the economy, education, the parents who want to work and children who want to study."

Bennett called on the public to follow health guidelines, especially with regard to the reopening of the school year, the renewed "green pass" vaccine certificate and the inoculation efforts.

As per the latest ministry guidelines, Israelis who were inoculated with two vaccine doses more than half a year ago will need to receive a third kab in order to retain their green passes. The certificate allows one to enter hotels, restaurants and other entertainment venues.

Double-vaccinated Israelis who received their second shot less than half a year ago will maintain their certificates. Israelis who recovered from COVID in the last half a year can receive (or retain) their passes for six months after the date they were verified as carriers.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post COVID-burdened HMOs urge public to ward off mixed morbidity, get flu shots appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Delta wave continues to subside, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 60,230 Israelis that were tested for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 3,247 (5.44%) tested positive. The reproduction rate, which dropped below 1 on Wednesday (0.95), declined further by Thursday and now stands at 0.83. A reproduction rate of less than 1 means an outbreak is subsiding.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

There are currently 84,505 active cases in the country, with 1,114 Israelis hospitalized. Of those, 227 are in critical condition, and 160 are on ventilators.

Data shows that 144,454 students are currently in self-isolation, as are 3,757 members of the teaching staff, of whom 2,279 carry the virus. Pupils from as many as 100 cities ─ including Eilat, Ashdod, Safed, Lod, Tiberias, Bat Yam, Ramla and Bnei Brak ─ will continue their studies via Zoom as these have been designated by the government as "red" cities due to high morbidity rates.

The ministry also reported long lines at drive-through coronavirus testing sites throughout Rosh Hashanah. Many complained they had to wait for three hours in line and ran out of gas and water.

Since the launch of the booster campaign, 2,690,387 Israelis have received their first jabs. Altogether, 6,024,339 have been fully vaccinated, and 5,519,095 received their first doses.

Nevertheless, despite showing signs of abating, the Delta wave continued to wreak havoc over the festivities. It claimed the lives of 50 Israelis over the two-day holiday. Fourteen patients died on the first day, Monday, and another 26 on Tuesday. Fifty-six Israelis have died of COVID since the beginning of the week.

Among the deceased over Rosh Hashanah was a 30-year-old unvaccinated woman who had given birth to a baby a week prior. After the birth, she was hospitalized at the coronavirus ward of the Emek Medical Center in Afula. Her condition deteriorated on Tuesday, after which she was transferred to the coronavirus intensive care unit Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, where she was on a ventilator. Her condition continued to deteriorate, and despite efforts on behalf of doctors to save her, she succumbed to the virus.

Another 28-year-old unvaccinated woman, who had given birth to a baby via C-Section in recent days, is hospitalized at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera. According to the hospital, she was put on a ventilator and her condition is serious, but stable. The baby is in good condition, currently hospitalized at the medical center as well.

According to data, 25 pregnant woman are hospitalized due to COVID in hospitals across the country. Another 26 hospitalized patients are mothers who had recently given birth. Of the latter, 65% had not been vaccinated.

Israel has reported 1,142,371 cases, including 7,279 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization doubled down Tuesday on an earlier appeal for a moratorium on boosters that has largely been ignored as rich countries with large supplies of vaccines continue to offer citizens booster shots and poorer countries struggle to lay hands even on first doses.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said he was "appalled" after hearing comments from a top association of pharmaceutical manufacturers that vaccine supplies are high enough to allow for both booster shots for people in well-supplied countries and first jabs in poorer countries that face shortages. He said that's already been the case.

"I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers," he told a news conference. "Because manufacturers have prioritized or been legally obliged to fulfill bilateral deals with rich countries willing to pay top dollar, low-income countries have been deprived of the tools to protect their people."

Tedros had previously called for a moratorium on boosters through the end of September. But wealthy countries – including Britain, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, and Spain – have begun or are considering plans to offer third shots of two-dose vaccines to their vulnerable people such as the elderly or those with compromised immune systems.

Israel has been providing third doses to a wide swath of people who already received a full two-dose regimen months earlier, and has even started mulling about providing a fourth jab. And last month, United States health officials recommended that all Americans get boosters to shore up their protection amid evidence that the vaccines' effectiveness is falling. WHO officials insist the scientific justification for boosters remains unclear.

Tedros acknowledged that third doses might be necessary for at-risk groups, but said: "We do not want to see widespread use of boosters for healthy people who are fully vaccinated."

Responding to the WHO calls on booster shots, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the US has donated and shared about 140 million doses with over 90 countries, "more than all other countries combined."

She added: "From Senegal to South Africa to India, we've made significant investments in boosting global productions of COVID vaccines. At the same time, the President and this administration has a responsibility to do everything we can to protect people in the United States."

US health officials are continuing to assess the science and utility of boosters, and there are growing indications that the US may miss the Biden administration's Sept. 20 target date for a wide rollout of extra shots for vaccinated people.

The WHO chief said he received a message of "clear support" from health ministers at a meeting of the influential Group of 20 countries this week for a commitment to help hit a WHO target that all countries vaccinate at least 40% of their people by year's end.

"A month ago, I called for a global moratorium on booster doses, at least until the end of September to prioritize vaccinating the most at risk people around the world who are yet to receive their first dose," Tedros said. "There has been little change in the global situation since then."

"So today, I'm calling for an extension of the moratorium until at least the end of the year to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40% of its population," he said.

The WHO says 5.5 billion coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered so far, but 80% of those have been to upper- and middle-income countries. Rich countries have also offered to donate 1 billion doses to other countries, but fewer than 15% of those doses have "materialized," Tedros said.

He noted that manufacturers have pledged to prioritize the UN-backed COVAX program, which aims to get vaccines to the neediest people in the world – no matter how wealthy the country.

"We don't want any more promises. We just want the vaccines," the WHO chief said.

Earlier Wednesday, COVAX managers again scaled back their target to ship doses this year, projecting about 1.4 billion doses will be available through the program by year-end – down from about 1.8 billion previously. They had originally hoped to ship 2 billion doses this year.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which co-runs the program, said COVAX has faced setbacks including export restrictions from hard-hit India – a key producer of vaccines – as well as regulatory hurdles for some vaccine candidates and manufacturing troubles elsewhere. But it also said deliveries are ramping up strongly, and another 1.1 billion doses are expected to be available by year-end through the program, up from 330 million so far. Most of those doses have gone to or are destined for poorer countries.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations said Tuesday that about 1.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses are now being produced every month, and cited projections that a total of 12 billion will have been produced by year-end.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a top adviser to Tedros, acknowledged that "some countries may be going ahead with decisions" to widely administer boosters, but that the WHO call for a moratorium "makes a real difference." He said some countries – which he did not identify – have approached the WHO about whether booster policies could be delayed.

But admittedly, the WHO's first call for a moratorium through September has not fixed the gaping imbalance in access to vaccines.

"Our role is to make sure that we put forward the strongest possible arguments and way out of this pandemic – and the way out of that is a moratorium and to extend it," Aylward said. "Because since the last time we called for it, the equity gap has gotten greater, the amount of vaccine available to low-income countries has gone down."

In the meantime, The European Medicines Agency has added Guillain-Barre syndrome – an extremely rare nerve-damaging disorder – onto its list of possible side-effects of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

The medicines regulator said a causal relationship between GBS and the AstraZeneca shot, known as Vaxzevria, was a "at least a reasonable possibility" after 833 cases of GBS were reported out of 592 million doses of the vaccine given worldwide by July 31.

The EMA categorized the side-effect as "very rare", the lowest frequency of side-effect category it has, and has emphasized that the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks. The US Food and Drug Administration has added a warning over Guillain-Barre syndrome as a possible side-effect of Johnson & Johnson's shot. Both vaccines use viral vector technology, and have also been associated with rare blood clots.

The EMA also tagged some other less severe side-effects to vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna as well as AstraZeneca's shot.

The post WHO doubles down on COVID boosters moratorium appeal appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.