Israel has started administering a third corona shot to patients with a particularly weak immune system. Such vulnerable individuals may be vaccinated a third time with Pfizer/BioNTech or another RNA vaccine because they are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill.
This includes cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
According to authorities, there is growing evidence that people with vulnerable immune systems do not develop “satisfactory levels of antibodies” after two doses of the vaccine. So the hope is now that sufficient antibodies will develop after a third vaccination.
Despite a rapid and massive vaccination campaign, Israel sees the number of corona infections rapidly increasing again due to the advancing Delta variant. An agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer enabled more than half of the population to be vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. For adults, this is 85 percent.
Pfizer recently announced that it would apply for emergency approval in the United States in August for a third, so-called booster dose for everyone. According to the company, it can significantly increase protection.