Israel to offer 3rd coronavirus booster to elders: PM

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Thursday that the country will offer a third coronavirus booster dose to people over 60, reported Xinhua.

"I'm announcing this evening the beginning of the campaign to receive the booster vaccine, the third vaccine," Bennett said in a televised statement.

"The vaccines are safe and effective," Bennett said, adding "reality proves the vaccines protect from severe morbidity and death."

Israel's new President Isaac Herzog, 60, will be the first person to receive the third Pfizer-BioNTech jab on Friday. The vaccine will be offered to the rest of the population above 60 as of Sunday, according to the prime minister.

The move makes Israel the first country in the world to offer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in a widescale. A third booster shot has not been approved by health regulatory authorities in the U.S. or the European Union.

Bennett also reiterated to "do everything possible" to avoid another lockdown. "The lockdowns cost 200 billion shekels (about 61.7 billion U.S. dollars)."

More than 62 percent of the country's 9.3 million citizens have been vaccinated with at least one dose and about 57 percent with two doses. Most of them received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.