Israel’s COVID-19 vaccine boosters show signs of taming Delta

Israel began administering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to people more than 60, the first country to do so.

Less than a month into a COVID-19 vaccine booster drive, Israel is seeing signs the country’s high infection and severe illness rates driven by the fast-spreading Delta variant may be slowing down. Delta hit Israel in June, just as the country began to reap the benefits of one of the world’s fastest vaccine rollouts. With an open economy and most curbs scrapped, Israel went from single-digit daily infections and zero deaths to about 7,500 daily cases last week, 600 people hospitalised in serious condition, and more than 150 people dying.