The BBC Reports That "Israel starts giving FOURTH vaccine dose to over-60s"

 Israel starts giving fourth vaccine dose to over-60s

Yolande Knell

BBC Middle East correspondent

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

People queue in their cars for Covid-19 tests in Ashdod, southern IsraelImage caption: People queue in their cars for Covid-19 tests in Ashdod, southern Israel

Israel has begun administering a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to people aged over 60 and to healthcare workers who received their third shot at least four months ago.

Already, those eligible have been queuing at vaccination centres to get their jabs.

Announcing this new rollout in a TV address, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told Israelis that they would now have a "new layer of protection", after the country's top medical officials signed off on the additional booster.

Last week, Israel approved a fourth dose for elderly people in care homes and those with compromised immune systems.

Like other countries, Israel has seen a rapid rise in daily Covid-19 cases driven by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant. Numbers have increased almost fourfold in the past week.