Israel will offer the updated COVID-19 booster shots from Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech (22UAy.DE) designed to combat the Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants by the end of September, a senior health official said on Wednesday.
Israel's coronavirus czar Salman Zarka urged those in risk groups to take the booster along with a flu shot, though anyone above the age of 12 and at least three months from a previous shot or COVID-19 illness would be eligible.
"We have been preparing for a while for winter and looking at the possibility of two illness waves in the country, flu and coronavirus, two waves we have seen elsewhere in the world," Zarka told reporters.
Around half of Israel's 9.4 million population has already had three vaccine doses and around 850,000 people have had four, according to health ministry data. More than 4.5 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Israel since the start of the pandemic, with 11,667 recorded deaths.
On Monday, the Health Ministry said that Israel's coronavirus R-value — which indicates how many people on average a single COVID-19 carrier infects — has topped 1 for the first time in months, indicating the pandemic is on the rise again, albeit moderately.
According to the ministry, 1,082 people tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday and 9,360 Israelis have been confirmed to carry the virus since the beginning of September — an average of around 850 confirmed infections a day.