Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contradictory claims the day before that Israelis will undergo another round of coronavirus vaccinations in six months, the tsar of the national virus Nachman Ash said on Wednesday that he does not know when the planned campaign will take place.
“I can’t say when we will get another vaccine [shot]”Maybe in six months, maybe in a year, maybe even longer,” Ash told Radio Radio.
He explained that the assumption is that the vaccinated vaccines issued so far will eventually lose their effectiveness and that the current inoculation may not provide protection against new strains of the virus, creating the need for an additional round of doses.
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“If we see that the vaccine is surprisingly good and stays effective for a long time” and without virus variants that pose new threats, “it could take longer” for the Israelis to need another shot, said Ash.
There are already concerns about the effectiveness of vaccines against a new strain of coronavirus that first appeared in India and has been detected in a handful of recent patients in Israel.
Ash said health officials are still working to determine the situation and that answers should come in a few weeks.
A British mutation in the virus has been blamed for a sharp rise in infections earlier this year and has helped order a third national blockade that has been largely eased in recent months.
Ash also reiterated that vaccination of children under the age of 16 against COVID-19 will only begin after the US Food and Drug Administration authorizes the inoculation of young people of this age.
He said that although COVID-19 symptoms seem milder in children, it will still be important for them to get vaccinated when the time comes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on April 20, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Ash also confirmed to the station that Israel is trying to give up ordering AstraZeneca vaccines, saying that “they are not necessary”, but without giving further explanations.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel was preparing for another six-month coronavirus vaccination campaign, which would include children, in a continuation of the country’s world leadership, which has already completed the inoculation of more than half the population.
“Prepare your shoulders … and your children,” Netanyahu told a news conference, predicting that COVID-19 vaccines would be approved for use in children by then.
Netanyahu’s forecast came based on remarks by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who said last week that he thought the company’s third dose of vaccine would be needed “somewhere between 6-12 months” after receiving the first two doses. and annually thereafter. Pfizer said the vaccine it developed with BioNTech in Germany remains 91% effective after 6 months.
The prime minister’s announcement came a day after Israel concluded new supply deals with Pfizer and Moderna. The exact number of doses from each company remains secret, but reports in the Jewish press said that Israel agreed to pay for a total of 18 million photos from the two American companies, with the option to buy millions more after what they were used for.
