Third of Older Israeli Adults Get Coronavirus Booster Jab

(Bloomberg) -- A third of Israeli adults over the age of 60 have already received a coronavirus booster shot, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday, as the country struggles to contain a surge in infections.

Some 420,000 older Israelis received a third dose of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE jab last week, and the total was expected to rise to more than half a million on Sunday, Bennett said at a cabinet meeting. He pressed health officials to pick up the pace even further, in a bid to head off a possible lockdown.

“This is a tremendous achievement, but the pace needs to be increased even further,” Bennett said. “We must overtake the pandemic and win the race between the immunization effort and the rate of its spread.”

Israel announced in late July that it would give third jabs to people over the age of 60, becoming the first country to widely roll out booster shots to try and control the resurgence of the virus. New infections have climbed in Israel in recent weeks, with some patients falling ill even after being vaccinated with two Pfizer doses.

The government last week called on employers to switch to home-working and tightened travel restrictions, warning that it may have to impose lockdowns if new cases continue to spiral.

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