Revealed: Israel Health Ministry plans adding COVID shot to standard vaccine schedule for babies

Israel's Health Ministry plans to add COVID shots to the official schedule of childhood vaccinations for children five and under as soon as they receive approval, Israel Association of Public Health Physicians Chairman Professor Nadav Davidovitch this week confirmed to Real Time Magazine.

This means that even if the state of emergency ends and COVID-19 is declared endemic, not only will the injections not disappear from our lives, but the Health Ministry plans to make them a permanent addition to the vaccine schedule.

"So, in due course, the vaccine will probably become one of the vaccines regularly given to children under five," Davidovitch stated. "It is not yet clear when this will be approved; certainly, it will have to pass the regulatory process."

In addition, both Professor Davidovitch and Health Ministry International Relations Director Dr. Asher Shalmon were quoted in various foreign media outlets as having stated days ago that Israel plans to start giving the shots to babies from 6 months of age starting in April. Professor Davidovitch, however, claims he was misquoted, and that what he said was that the vaccine effective against the omicron variant, which Pfizer is currently developing, is expected to reach Israel in April. "I was talking about the vaccine Pfizer is preparing, which will be effective against omicron and other variants," he said in response to a query by Real Time Magazine.

It was also announced this week that the Health Ministry has decided to begin administering boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11, including those who have recovered from COVID. This, despite the lack of evidence supporting effectiveness of the booster for children, and despite clear recommendations by the World Health Organization and leading experts worldwide and in Israel against booster doses to children. The first stage will be to vaccinate those children categorized as "at-risk."

Meanwhile, Pfizer is conducting clinical trials on babies, with the goal of reducing the age of vaccination from five years to six months. The corporation recently reported that while the 3-microgram dose produced a protective immune response in babies between 6 and 24 months, it did not produce adequate immunity in children between the ages of two and five years. In light of this failure, the corporation plans to change its clinical trial and add a third dose for children between two and five years old, hoping to improve results. The corporation also plans to test a third dose containing 10 micrograms in children between five and eleven years of age.

If these trials succeed, Pfizer said they will present the data to the FDA so they can receive emergency use authorization in the near future, in the first half of 2022.