Israel ‘Leads the Way’ with 4th COVID Jabs for Vulnerable

 An Israeli man receives a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. (AFP)
An Israeli man receives a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. (AFP)
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Israel ‘Leads the Way’ with 4th COVID Jabs for Vulnerable

 An Israeli man receives a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. (AFP)
An Israeli man receives a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. (AFP)

Israel on Friday started giving fourth Covid vaccine shots to people with weakened immunity, becoming one of the first countries to do so in hopes of countering a case surge driven by the Omicron variant.

The effort comes almost exactly one year after Israel began a massive vaccination drive on the back of a data-sharing accord with US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.

Israel's health ministry on Thursday approved giving a fourth shot for immunocompromised people, the same day that authorities reported more than 4,000 new cases of the disease, a high not seen since September.

Heart transplant patients were among the first to receive the additional shots at Sheba hospital in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, where health workers received test injections this week.

"I was worried at the start but after speaking to my doctor I felt reassured that it was a good thing to do, that it would help," said a 50-year-old woman, Rinat Orion, among the first to receive the fourth shot.

Galia Rahav, a doctor, said: "We had good results with the third dose which only caused secondary effects such as light, localized pain. We can't wait to see the results of this fourth dose."

Cardiologist Yael Peled said it would "increase protection against coronavirus".

'Confront the wave'
Israel on Friday also added residents of retirement homes and geriatric patients to those eligible to take the fourth dose.

"This decision was taken for fear of an increase in cases of contamination in such institutions that would endanger the health of these people," the health ministry said.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said Israel, which was among the first countries in the world to offer a third shot to the general public, will be a trailblazer for the fourth jab.

"Israel will lead the way in administering a fourth vaccine to the Israeli people," he said.

Chile has announced it will also offer a fourth shot to at-risk people starting in February, while health authorities in Britain and Germany are considering following suit.

More than four million people out of an Israeli population of 9.2 million have received three shots of coronavirus vaccine.

The health ministry said Thursday that Israel will not let up in its fight against the latest Covid-19 variant.

"Our strategy to confront Omicron is clear: the stronger the wave, the more protection we'll need to confront it," the ministry said.

On another front in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, an Israeli El Al plane flew in Thursday from Belgium carrying a shipment of Pfizer's anti-Covid pill, Paxlovid.

On Friday, Israel recorded a 24-hour tally of 4,916 new coronavirus cases, an increase of 152 percent over the same day last week.

According to researchers at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, new daily infections could rise to 15,000 or even 20,000 within the next 10 days.

A total of almost 1.4 million cases of Covid infection, including 8,243 deaths, have been officially recorded in Israel.



Donald Trump Jr. Is Helping His Father Pick the Most Controversial Cabinet of Modern Times

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump approaches to embrace Donald Trump Jr. at his campaign rally, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump approaches to embrace Donald Trump Jr. at his campaign rally, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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Donald Trump Jr. Is Helping His Father Pick the Most Controversial Cabinet of Modern Times

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump approaches to embrace Donald Trump Jr. at his campaign rally, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump approaches to embrace Donald Trump Jr. at his campaign rally, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)

Donald Trump Jr. has emerged as the most influential Trump family member in the transition as the president-elect builds the most controversial cabinet in modern US history, according to a half dozen sources with knowledge of his role, elevating inexperienced loyalists over more qualified candidates for top positions in his administration.

Trump, who fiercely prizes loyalty, has long relied on family members for political advice, but which relative has his ear is known to vary.

This time, it is Don Jr., who has helped cabinet contenders sink or rise to the fore - from championing Senator JD Vance as Trump's running mate to blocking former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from joining the cabinet, according to the sources, who include donors, personal friends and political allies.

Don Jr. is due to join conservative venture capital fund 1789 Capital, although one of the sources said he will continue to host his politics-focused podcast and support candidates that espouse Trump's brand of politics.

He will provide advice to his father in the White House, the source added, although they cautioned that Don Jr. was unlikely to be involved in day-to-day deliberations.

Don Jr. and the Trump-Vance transition team did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In addition to ensuring candidates are loyal to his father, Don Jr. typically seeks out contenders who embrace an anti-establishment worldview, including protectionist economic policies, and a reduction in military interventions and overseas aid, according to a handful of the sources and Don Jr.'s own comments on social media site X and in public.

Two of the candidates Don Jr. championed may face a rocky confirmation process in the Senate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump plans to nominate as the top US health official, and Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump plans to nominate as intelligence chief.

Kennedy is an environmental activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, implied that Russian President Vladimir Putin had valid grounds for invading Ukraine and stirred controversy when she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the midst of his bloody crackdown on dissidents in 2017.

INFLUENTIAL - TO A POINT

Don Jr. was also instrumental in lobbying his father to pick his close friend Vance as Trump's running mate.

Vance was popular with Trump's base, but his anti-corporate rhetoric, opposition to Ukraine aid and past comments panning some Democratic women as "childless cat ladies" gave some donors and supporters pause.

Trump was ultimately happy with Vance, giving Don Jr. extra political capital as an adviser during the transition, one of the sources added.

Not all of Don Jr.'s picks have landed jobs.

He was keen on Ric Grenell, a personal friend and former ambassador to Germany, getting secretary of state, according to a separate source familiar with the matter. His father ended up picking Senator Marco Rubio, whose views are deemed by Trump's core supporters as too traditional and internationalist.

Two of the sources close to Don Jr. said he does not weigh in on all personnel decisions and is not working on the transition process or at Mar-a-Lago full time. He is also not expected to play a big role in vetting candidates for lower-level jobs, one of the sources close to him said.

"The reality this time is we actually know what we're doing," Don Jr. told Fox News earlier this month. "And it's about surrounding my father with people who are both competent and loyal."

FOLLOWING IN HIS SISTER'S FOOTSTEPS

Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner were prominent in his 2016 presidential campaign, the subsequent transition and throughout his first term.

This time, they are far less active, although Kushner, formerly Trump's senior adviser who focused on the Middle East, told Reuters that he is briefing real estate investor Steve Witkoff on his new job as special envoy to the region.

"I have been working with Witkoff to get him up to speed on Trump's past efforts," Kushner said through a spokesperson.

A half-dozen sources close to Kushner said they expect him to be involved in Middle Eastern policy in an unofficial capacity.

Kushner, Ivanka and sibling Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization business, do not plan to join the new administration, according to their representatives as well as sources.

One source close to the transition said Trump does not appear to need his family for advice as much as in the past because of aides like Susie Wiles, who helped to run the most disciplined of his election campaigns to date.

Trump has named Wiles as his chief of staff, a powerful position in Washington.

"Stuff is really buttoned down," the source said of Trump's current team. "He may not need the family this time like he used to."