A senior virus expert on Monday said that Israel is "not far" from starting a vaccination campaign that would see at-risk population receive a third vaccine booster shot against coronavirus.
Prof. Galia Rahav, the head of the Infectious Disease Unit and Laboratories at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, told Ynet she hopes that soon the elderly and those suffering from underlying health conditions will be able to get inoculated for the third time to improve their chances of fighting off the disease.
"When it comes to serious illness and hospitalizations, the effectiveness [of the vaccine] against the Delta strain is still similar to the Alpha strain, about 93-94%. When it comes to preventing infection or asymptomatic disease, it is probably a little less effective," she said.
She urged Israeli who still have not gotten their vaccine shots to do so as soon as possible. "We have a lot of people who still have not been vaccinated, both adults and teenagers. I think the most important and effective thing is to get vaccinated."
The professor added the government should implement tougher measures at Ben Gurion Airport to stop more cases of the Delta variant entering the country.
3 View gallery
Medical staff on their way to conduct COVID tests at Ben Gurion Airport
(Photo: Barel Efraim )
"It is true that at the moment most of the recent cases are due to community spread and not so much because of the airport, but every single new case that arrives [in the counrty] leads to an infection chain of some 100 additional cases and it is very unfortunate, it must be prevented."
She added the most important thing in preventing the spread at the moment is "masks, masks, masks".
"People are not doing this, and it needs to be enforced."
3 View gallery
Pop-up vaccination center in Tel Aviv aimed at getting teens vaccinated
(Photo: Orel Cohen)
Finally, Prof. Rahav said that 50% of newly diagnosed cases are among children and teens and the government should work to limit mass gatherings of children in confined spaces.
"I definitely think one should avoid gatherings [of children] and certainly avoid gatherings of unvaccinated [children]. We need to get them vaccinated and at the same time I would also limit gatherings to up to 30-40 children."