Israel expands booster Covid vaccine programme to over-30s to combat alarming fourth wave as data shows third doses dragged R rate below 1 in elderly groups in THREE WEEKS

Israel's Covid R rate has fallen below one among the over-60s just three weeks after booster shots were dished, in the clearest sign yet that the programme is working.

Health Ministry officials say the R rate — which signals how fast the virus is spreading — has dropped below the crucial level, suggesting the outbreak is now shrinking in that age group.

Israel became the first country in the world to start rolling out booster shots to over-60s last month — and more than half have already got their third dose.

The country today expanded the programme to over-30s, after previously making all over-40s, teachers and frontline medics and carers eligible.

Israeli Government adviser and data scientist Professor Eran Segal said infection rates in over-60s are still 'very high' but that the ‘increase in the rate of infections... has diminished'.

'This is likely due to the third booster shots,' he said, 'an uptick in people taking the first dose and the high number of people infected per week who now have natural immunity.'

Britain is under mounting pressure to follow suit because infections, hospitalisation and deaths are all rising as we head into autumn, when school and university students will begin mixing again and more people opt to socialise in doors. 

But the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation , which advises No10 on the roll out, is only expected to green light third doses for very vulnerable adults and the very elderly, citing a lack of evidence of benefit for re-jabbing healthy adults.

Israel's Covid cases appear to be plateauing almost four weeks after the booster programme began. Health Ministry data showed the country's infection rate was 842 cases per 100,000 people on August 23, down from 844.5 the day before

But Covid deaths in the country are continuing to rise. Deaths lag behind cases by around three weeks

Israeli data suggests booster shots slash the risk of infection among the double-vaccinated four-fold. Pictured above is a woman receiving her third Pfizer vaccine in Israel

Israel's Covid cases may now be falling after surging since June when the Indian 'Delta' variant first arrived in the country.

Health Ministry data showed the country's infection rate nationally was 842 cases per million people on August 23 — the most recent data — compared to 687 per million one week earlier.

Despite rising in the last seven days, cases appear to have peaked at 844 per million on August 22.

However, one day of dropping infection rates is not indicative of a trend and cases could begin to rise again.

But promisingly, the R rate dropped below one among over-60s last Thursday and continued to fall for the rest of the week, according to data from the Health Ministry.

And nationally, the R rate dipped to 1.14 from 1.36 at the start of the month.

This means every 10 infected people will infect around 11 other people, down from 13 to 14 others at the beginning of the month.

But the rate is still above one, suggesting the outbreak was still growing across the country, but lower than previously suggesting the rate of increase had slowed. 

Booster jabs were offered to those aged 60 and over first before being expanded to the over-50s and over-40s more recently. 

But it takes 10 days to three weeks for immunity to develop after a Covid vaccine, so it is not yet expected for infection rates to begin tumbling in younger age groups.   

Taiwan has started administering its own Covid vaccine

Taiwan yesterday began dishing out its own homemade Covid vaccine.

The Medigen jab received emergency approval for use from the island's health authorities last month.

And more than 700,000 residents have already signed up to receive it. 

Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen got her first dose yesterday. 

Taiwan has been accused of rushing its rollout because the jab is yet to complete stage three trials in Panama.

But Medigen — the biotech firm behind the vaccine — says there are no safety concerns and results show antibodies from the jab are 'as good' as those from AstraZeneca vaccines.

Taiwanese receive the Medigen vaccine yesterday in Taipei, the capital

The jab is is a recombinant protein vaccine, similar to the vaccine developed by Novavax which trials have shown to be up to 89 per cent effective.

It uses a more traditional method by  recreating part of the spike protein of the virus to stimulate an immune reponse. 

More than a million people have got a third dose since the drive was expanded to adults. 

Israeli Government Covid adviser and Hebrew University expert Doron Gazit said the rise in hospitalisations among over-60s has been slowing over the last ten days.

'We attribute this to the booster shots and to more cautious behaviour recently,' he said.

The rate of new severe cases among unvaccinated patients 70 and older is now seven times that of vaccinated patients, and the gap will continue to grow as long as infections rise, according to Gazit. Among those over 50, that gap is four-fold.

'We are optimistic, but very cautious,' Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz told public broadcaster Kan on Sunday. 

'It gives us more time, slows the spread and we're moving away from lockdown.'

But even if the boosters are slowing the pandemic's pace, it is unlikely to fend Delta off entirely.

Dvir Aran, biomedical data scientist at Technion — Israel's Institute of Technology —, said that while cases are retreating, other measures are needed alongside boosters to stop the pandemic. 

'It will take a long time until enough people get a third dose and until then thousands more people will getting seriously ill.'

Since Delta's surge, Israel has re-imposed indoor mask wearing, limitations on gatherings and ramped up rapid testing.

Its 'living with Covid' policy will be tested come September, when schools reopen after summer break and when the Jewish holiday season starts, with families traditionally gathering to celebrate. 

It comes after an Israeli study yesterday suggested a third dose of Pfizer's Covid vaccine significantly improves protection against infection and serious illness in the over-60s. 

It found that people given a booster shot were four times less likely to catch the virus after 10 days compared to those only given two doses.  

A third jab also enhanced protection from serious illness and hospitalisation in the over-60s by five to six times, according to the study by the Israeli Health Ministry.

The findings, believed to be based on real-world data, were presented at a meeting of a ministry panel of vaccination experts on Thursday. But full details of the study are yet to be released.  

They are in line with separate data reported by Israel's Maccabi healthcare provider last week which found the boosters to be highly effective.