Israeli hospital starts 4th jab trial

TEL AVIV • An Israeli hospital launched a clinical trial yesterday on the impact of a fourth shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, as the Health Ministry weighs a national fourth jab roll-out.

The study being conducted by Sheba Medical Centre involves 150 volunteers from the hospital's staff, who are at least four months removed from their third vaccine shot and have signs of waning antibodies.

Director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at Sheba, Professor Gili Regev-Yochay, said the study would assess the potential antibody boost from a fourth shot, the existence of adverse effects and whether an additional booster reduces the risk of infection.

Participants will be monitored for six months, she added.

Israeli Health Ministry spokes-man Gal Rotem Golan told Agence France-Presse that the ministry had approved the trial to "check the efficacy" of the fourth shot.

The study's launch comes as Ministry of Health director general Nachman Ash weighs the recommendation of an Israeli expert panel to begin giving a fourth vaccine shot to medical staff and everyone above 60.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett hailed the recommendation, which came earlier this month, citing the risk of the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant.

He said that Israel, which was among the first countries in the world to offer a third shot to the general public, would be a trailblazer for the fourth jab.

But the roll-out is on hold, pending the Health Ministry's approval. Professor Ash reportedly wants more time to assess the recommendation, as he awaits further data on the severity of infections caused by Omicron.

About 4.2 million of Israel's estimated 9.3 million citizens have received three doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE