Israeli 'Coronavirus Czar' Calls for Fourth Vaccine Shot, Media Says

As of Friday, more than 2.5 million Israelis have reportedly received their third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Salman Zarka, Israel’s “national coronavirus czar”, has announced that the country should start preparations to administer the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine, The Times of Israel reports.

According to the newspaper, Zarka did not mention when these vaccine shots may be administered.

"Given that the virus is here and will continue to be here, we also need to prepare for a fourth injection," he reportedly told Kan public radio.

Zarka also mentioned that the forthcoming booster shot may be modified to improve the protection its affords recipients from new COVID-19 variants, such as the Delta strain.

"This is our life from now on, in waves," he remarked.

As of Friday, more than 2.5 million Israelis had received the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, the newspaper notes.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that the COVID-19 booster vaccination will help the country avoid a full lockdown during the coming Jewish holiday season - the New Year, Rosh Hashana is on 6 September and the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is on 15 September.

The Jewish new year is observed by secular and religious Israelis and AP pointed out that last year a spike of coronavirus infections during the holiday season resulted in a full lockdown.