In Israel, the number of new coronavirus infections reported daily has skyrocketed to more than 8,500. The Ministry of Health recorded 8,646 new cases on Tuesday for the previous day – the highest value since the end of January. In the past few days, the numbers had been below 6,000. The number of seriously ill rose to 559 – the highest figure since mid-March.
For two weeks now, the Mediterranean country has been trying to combat the massive increase in Covid infections with a third corona vaccination. According to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office, more than a million Israelis have been vaccinated a third time. People over the age of 50 are now receiving a booster vaccination. You only need to have had your second vaccination at least five months ago.
Background for the third vaccination are figures which show that the effectiveness of BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine used in Israel since the beginning of June the Ministry of Health waned has. However, government experts also criticize the fact that the efficacy figures are not scientifically collected. At the same time, the delta variant, which is considered to be particularly contagious, has also spread since the beginning of June.
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58 percent have been vaccinated twice
Overall, more than 58 percent of the 9.4 million inhabitants of Israel have been vaccinated twice. The vaccination campaign had been very successful at the beginning and attracted international attention.
However, the number of immunized is now only increasing slowly. According to Prime Minister Bennett, there are more than a million Israelis who could be vaccinated but do not.
