Over three million Israelis have received a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Israel’s Health Ministry announced today. The ministry said 3,020,716 Israelis have received the booster shot since they began to be offered this summer.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett thanked Israelis in a statement celebrating the milestone: “To the three million good and responsible Israelis who went and got 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”.
The news comes as a study conducted at an Israeli hospital has found that antibody levels in the body after the administration of a third COVID-19 vaccine dose were ten times higher than those detected after the second dose.
The study compared the antibody levels a week after the third COVID-19 vaccine dose was administered to staff at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, outside Tel Aviv to their levels a week after the second dose was administered. Israel is the the first country to officially offer a third dose, and began its COVID booster campaign on 1st August, initially rolling it out to those over the age of 60.