Experts of the FDA recommends: Third vaccine dose be given to people 65 and older

The Committee of Experts on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last night (Friday) unanimously recommended that the third vaccine be given to people 65 and older and to high-risk groups for serious illness in the United States. This was at the end of a re-vote, after the panel of experts ruled out giving the booster sweepingly to all 16-year-olds and older. In a discussion that lasted about eight hours, the experts raised doubts about the need for a booster for all age groups - and claimed that there is still not enough information indicating the safety of the third dose, especially for teenagers.
At the end of the first vote, experts agreed that the booster could be approved for at-risk populations - aged 65 and over and suffering from obesity, diabetes, chronic diseases and immunosuppression - but there is still not enough information to approve it for young people as well. Following complaints about the wording of the voting question that dealt with sweeping approval, the committee decided to take a break to rephrase the voting question - and then convened for a re-vote. The experts also recommended approving the provision of the booster to health teams and employees who are at high risk of infection at work.
During the hearing, the Minister of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sharon Elrai Price, presented data based on more than one million vaccinated in Israel - which indicated a 10-fold improvement in protection against corona infection and severe morbidity following the booster. , Especially regarding the safety of adolescents aged 17-16. The experts further determined that the scope of the data is still too small to decide the issue.
Israel overtook the world and in a government decision began vaccinating its citizens with the booster dose about two months ago. Yesterday, the Ministry of Health announced that it had crossed the threshold of 3 million third-dose vaccinators - earlier than the target set by the ministry.
The decision of the Forum of Advising Experts is considered a blow to US President Joe Biden, who planned to begin soon with a booster dose operation for the entire vaccinated population. Advising the FDA, many countries have announced the start of the booster vaccine, including the United Kingdom, Hungary and Germany.
In Israel, it is still unclear whether this will have an effect on the government's decision to deny the green mark from those vaccinated more than six months ago in the second dose as of October 1. It is not inconceivable that the issue will also come up for legal discussion.
In any case, from an explanatory point of view - despite the results of the study on the effectiveness of the booster - there is no doubt that the decision in the US not to recommend a third dose in the meantime, will not facilitate the Ministry of Health's persuasion efforts.
A senior Israeli health ministry official commented on the FDA's panel of experts' decision, saying "I have no doubt it will affect the proportion of people who did not receive the third dose - and many are likely to appeal now. "On the one hand, there may be a difficulty with the green label policy for those with a third vaccine.
An official statement from the Ministry of Health stated: "The FDA has unanimously recommended the provision of a booster dose to people over the age of 65 and people at risk, as well as to health care workers - just as we did first. , Austria, Germany, France and other countries. We presented to the FDA research data on vaccine decline and increased protection after a third vaccine, which are said to be convincing. Responding to the protection against the corona virus
The latest study from Israel, published earlier this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirmed estimates of the need for a booster dose: Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion, the Gartner Institute, the Weizmann Institute and the Ministry of Health tracked and found more than a million Israelis Because 12 days after the third booster dose, the rate of corona patients and the rate of patients in critical condition was 10 times smaller among those who received a third dose - compared to the group eligible for the booster who were not vaccinated. In total, in the group that did not receive a booster, there were 4,439 verified patients and 294 patients whose condition deteriorated to severe, compared with 934 verified patients and 29 seriously ill patients in the booster group.
The Ministry of Health announced tonight (Friday) that Israel has crossed the 3 million vaccine threshold in the third dose of the corona vaccine. According to data from the Ministry of Health, so far 3,020,716 Israelis have received the booster. Updated data from the Ministry of Health show that 78.2% of those aged 70 to 79 were vaccinated in the third dose, compared with only 26.6% of those aged 20 to 29.
Among those aged 60 to 69, the immunization rate in the third dose is about 70%. Among 50- to 59-year-olds, the booster immunization rate is about 56%. Among those aged 40 to 49, the rate is about 47%, while among those aged 30 to 39, the rate is about 34%.
The Ministry of Health calls on everyone who is entitled to the third vaccine and has not done so - to go out and get vaccinated. "The vaccine has proven to be the most effective means of fighting the corona virus, and it is available to everyone. Everyone who gets vaccinated protects themselves, their family and their environment," it said.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett referred to the figure and said: "To the 3 million good and responsible Israelis who went to get vaccinated, thank you! Thanks to you we are all safer and healthier and thanks to you our country remains open during the holidays, and in general. One million Israelis in the third vaccine, through the tightening of the green mark, information and accessibility. "
The morbidity data updated before the beginning of Shabbat shows that yesterday 3,227 positive for the virus were diagnosed, and today at midnight another 2,340 were diagnosed. A total of 38,000 tests were solved today, and the positive rate is 6.41% - higher than in recent days.
The number of patients in critical condition is 661, of whom 180 are respirators.

The Ministry of Health announced tonight (Friday) that Israel has crossed the 3 million vaccine threshold in the third dose of the corona vaccine. According to data from the Ministry of Health, so far 3,020,716 Israelis have received the booster. Updated data from the Ministry of Health show that 78.2% of those aged 70 to 79 were vaccinated in the third dose, compared with only 26.6% of those aged 20 to 29.
Among those aged 60 to 69, the immunization rate in the third dose is about 70%. Among 50- to 59-year-olds, the booster immunization rate is about 56%. Among those aged 40 to 49, the rate is about 47%, while among those aged 30 to 39, the rate is about 34%.
The Ministry of Health calls on everyone who is entitled to the third vaccine and has not done so - to go out and get vaccinated. "The vaccine has proven to be the most effective means of fighting the corona virus, and it is available to everyone. Everyone who gets vaccinated protects themselves, their family and their environment," it said.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett referred to the figure and said: "To the 3 million good and responsible Israelis who went to get vaccinated, thank you! Thanks to you we are all safer and healthier and thanks to you our country remains open during the holidays, and in general. One million Israelis in the third vaccine, through the tightening of the green mark, information and accessibility. "
The morbidity data updated before the beginning of Shabbat shows that yesterday 3,227 positive for the virus were diagnosed, and today at midnight another 2,340 were diagnosed. A total of 38,000 tests were solved today, and the positive rate is 6.41% - higher than in recent days.
The number of patients in critical condition is 661, of whom 180 are respirators. Yesterday 15 corona patients died and today three more. 7,494 Israelis died from the outbreak of the plague.