The scientific community is eager to learn how much more effective the new vaccines are than the original immunizations when they finally arrive. The vaccines were specifically designed for Omicron but were also built to withstand future versions.
Israelis will start getting new variant-tailored shots by the end of the month, the country’s coronavirus czar said Sunday.
The move comes as Israel seeks to get ahead of a potentially more contagious variant of the virus that is spreading in the country.
“We are now starting to produce vaccines specifically tailored for the new variants,” Nachman Ash said at a press conference.
“We will start vaccinating Israelis against the new variants by the end of the month.”
Israel has been praised for its handling of the pandemic and has vaccinated more than half of its 9 million citizens with two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
But the country has seen a recent surge in infections, with more than 5,000 new cases reported on Sunday.
The rise in infections has been attributed to the spread of a more contagious variant first identified in Britain.
In an effort to contain the outbreak, Israel has imposed a strict lockdown. Ash said that while the lockdown was having an effect, it was not enough to stop the spread of the new variant.
“The lockdown is working, but it is not enough to deal with this new variant,” he said.
Israel has already begun tailoring its vaccine rollout to the new variant, vaccinating frontline workers and those most at risk first.
The country is also working on a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which Ash said could be ready “within weeks.” Israel is not the only country grappling with the spread of the new variant. In an effort to contain the outbreak, Britain has imposed a strict lockdown, and other European countries have tightened restrictions. The United States has also seen a surge in infections, with more than 20 million cases reported. President Joe Biden has said that his administration is working on a plan to vaccinate against the new variant.
