Hundreds of thousands have already received the third vaccination against Corona in Israel. A survey provides the first information on the booster vaccine from Biontech.
Tel Aviv – While there is still talk of a third vaccination against the corona virus in Germany, other countries are already further. Initial findings on vaccination reactions to the booster vaccination from Biontech / Pfizer are already available from Israel. In a survey in the Mediterranean country, a majority stated that they had similar reactions after the third vaccination as after the second injection.
88 percent felt similar or better in the week after the booster vaccination, according to a survey by health insurance company Clalit. This was confirmed by a spokeswoman for the cash register on Monday (August 9th, 2021). Ten percent would have felt worse than after the second corona vaccination. Overall, 31 percent of those questioned reported at least one vaccination reaction, most of them pain at the injection site.
Survey in Israel: vaccination reactions from the third corona vaccination are not exceptional
According to its own information, the health insurance company has vaccinated more than 240,000 members for the third time. Around 4,500 people took part in the survey, it said. Nine percent of those surveyed said they were tired as a reaction to the third corona vaccination, and around six percent said they felt unwell. According to their own information, one percent took medical help because of the vaccination reaction. Almost 0.4 of the respondents reported breathing difficulties.
“It has been shown that they (editor’s note: vaccination reactions) are similar or less in most cases with the booster vaccination,” said a person in charge of the health insurance company. Although long-term studies on the efficacy and safety of the booster dose are not yet available, “these results continue to indicate the benefit of vaccination for the personal risk management of people over 60 years of age,” he added. Nevertheless, it is still important to comply with corona hygiene rules and to behave carefully.
Israel awards third corona vaccination to people over the age of 60
Israel has been offering Corona booster vaccinations for 60-year-olds and older for around a week – as the first state in the world. The background to this are figures from the ministry, according to which the effectiveness of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccination used in Israel has declined sharply since the beginning of June. However, government experts also criticize the fact that these figures on effectiveness have not been scientifically collected.
The number of new infections reported within one day in Israel has been over 3000 for around a week. On Monday morning (08/09/2021) the Ministry of Health reported 3372 new infections for the previous day. 360 corona patients are seriously ill. More than 58 percent of the roughly 9.4 million Israelis are fully vaccinated.
The vaccination campaign in Israel was very successful, especially at the beginning, it made rapid progress and caused an international stir. As in many other countries, however, it stalled after a rapid increase in corona vaccinations. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently reported that more than a million Israelis could get vaccinated but do not. On Sunday he explicitly called on the Arab minority to get vaccinated – the vaccination rate there was too low. Around 20 percent of the population are Arabs.
Third corona vaccination could help immunocompromised people
In Germany, the step of wanting to carry out a third corona vaccination is justified by politicians with preventive health care and initial study results, which indicate that certain groups can increasingly lead to a reduced or rapidly declining immune response. This applies in particular to relevant immunocompromised people as well as to the very elderly and those in need of care, it is said.
Background: The immune system of old people does not react as well as that of younger people. The actually high effectiveness of the corona vaccines is not fully effective with them. It can be similar for people with certain pre-existing conditions. (tvd / dpa)
