On the way to a third course? The head of the Public Health Service, Dr. Sharon Elrai Price, claimed today (Thursday) that this option will be considered according to the degree of effectiveness of the vaccine against corona in the South African strain.
The United Health Insurance Fund has begun vaccinating the second dose against Corona // Photo: Shmuel Buharis
“We need to understand if there is a chance for the vaccine to be less effective in the South African strain. Growing the virus in order to test it, it will take us a few weeks to get answers,” Dr. Elrai Price said in an interview with the GLC.
According to data this morning, so far in Israel 2,849,000 people have been vaccinated, out of about 1.5 million we received the second dose. The Ministry of Health yesterday instructed the health funds to open the vaccines to those aged 35 and over.
Dr. Elrai Price also referred to the morbidity among the vaccinated. “As of yesterday, 63 people who had received the second dose of the vaccine had contracted corona, of whom 5 were hospitalized in critical and critical condition. It’s only 0.0014%, “said Dr. Elrai Price.
The head of the public health service also referred to the issue of extending the quarantine and warned: “The price of not extending the quarantine will be more dead, this is the equation. When we open things up and there is an increase in infections, a certain percentage get seriously ill – that’s what happens.”