The coronavirus booster shot is now available to all individuals over 30, the Health Ministry announced Tuesday. Israel registered almost 10,000 new cases, the second-highest tally since January 18.
The authorities are hopeful that the third shot will help stem the new wave of infections.
So far, some 1.57 million Israelis have received the booster shot, including 16% of those aged 40 to 49, 40% 50-59, 61% 60-69, 77% 70-79, 72% 80-89 and 67% over 90.
“We have made sure that we have enough vaccines for everyone,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz wrote on Twitter. “The vaccination campaign works efficiently and quickly. Run to get vaccinated.”
All healthcare providers immediately opened their inoculation stations to those in their 30s. Several thousand people were said to have received the booster shot on Tuesday.
The number of first doses administered daily is also accelerating, with more than 20,000 shots the past two days, up from a few thousand a day.
The Health Ministry and Magen David Adom on Monday began sending mobile vaccination stations to all towns and neighborhoods with a low vaccination rate.
This week, serious cases appeared to be tapering off to between 680 and 690. The reproduction rate, or R, which measures how many people each virus carrier infects on average, has dropped to 1.15, the lowest level since the fourth wave began in June.
An R above 1 indicates that the disease is spreading. It remained between 1.3 and 1.4, before slowly decreasing two weeks ago.
At last count, Israel had more than 72,000 active cases, up from fewer than 200 at the beginning of June. At the peak of the third wave last winter, there were more than 88,000 active cases. Since the pandemic began early last year, more than one million Israelis have been infected.
Some 6.63% of those screened on Monday tested positive, marking a record in the fourth wave.
The authorities have also been conducting serological tests on children under the age of 12, who are not eligible for the vaccine, to identify those who had the virus without knowing it and have developed antibodies. Those who are found positive are given a Green Pass and are not required to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has the virus.
So far, some 55,000 Israeli children have been screened, mostly in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector, where schools have been opened for over two weeks. About 17% of them tested positive.