Netanyahu Advises Health Minister: Third Covid Shot in August

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu urged Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz to order the start of a third coronavirus vaccine dose in August, according to media reports.

In a letter he sent to Horowitz on Thursday, Netanyahu wrote that “from conversations I’ve had with some of the best experts in the world, I believe the third vaccine [dose] should be given to the over-50 population starting in August, in order to finish the task until the end of September.”

Netanyahu noted that no one knows when a drop in immunity will leave the population vulnerable to infection again. “The price of being late… could be deadly and cost many lives,” he warned.

Regarding existing supplies of vaccines, Channel 12 reported that Pfizer, which has provided Israel with most of its vaccines, has rejected a request to extend the expiration date.

The company said that it does not have enough information to ascertain that the doses would still be safe to use after their current expiry, according to the report.