Israel offers over 60s third booster vaccine

Israel on Sunday began offering a coronavirus vaccine booster to people over the age of 60.

It makes Israel the first country to offer a third dose of a Western vaccine to its citizens on a large scale.

Israel launched one of the world's most successful vaccination drives earlier this year, but has now decided to offer booster shots because of rising infections and signs that the vaccine's efficacy dwindles over time.

Arsen ArutIniunian, head nurse of the Clalit healthcare provider in Tev Aviv, said that there has been a high interest in the booster shot and hoped that many more people would come and get one.

Israel has seen new coronavirus cases rise in the past month, even though most of the population — over 56% of its 9.3 million people — has received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Most of the new coronavirus cases are from the delta variant, which has spread even among those already vaccinated.