The Israeli hospital will provide the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to Reuters for testing

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A major Israeli hospital’s fourth vaccine against COVID-19 will begin delivering a fourth vaccine to 150 workers on Monday to measure the need for a second nationwide reinforcement, the facility said on Sunday.

Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv said its tests would shed light on the effectiveness of a fourth dose and help decision-makers implement health policies in Israel and abroad.

Israel has reported 1,118 reported cases of the rapidly spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, which has doubled the number of people infected every two days.

A group of experts from the Ministry of Health has recommended offering a fourth dose Pfizer (NYSE 🙂 / BioNTech vaccine received a booster shot at least four months ago for Israelis 60 and older.

But final approval by the director general of the ministry is still awaiting public debate as to whether sufficient scientific information is available to justify a new impetus.

Sheba Medical Center did not say how long the test would last.

“We will look at the effect of the fourth dose on antibodies and morbidity and measure safety,” said research director Gili Regev-Yochay. “We’ll understand if it’s worth a fourth shot, and to whom.”

According to the hospital, 150 Sheba medical staff who took part in the trial, which received the approval of the Ministry of Health, received boosters before August 20.

Separately, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said it had given a negative answer to COVID-19 on Sunday after infecting its 14-year-old daughter. He said he would isolate himself.