Israel's Health Ministry on Tuesday approved a third ("booster") dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11.
Following a Tuesday meeting of the Staff for the Management of Pandemics, the Health Ministry instructed the four HMOs to prepare to provide a third dose to children ages 5-11 who have until now been able to receive just two doses of the vaccine.
Children will be eligible for the booster dose even if they have recovered from COVID-19, so long as at least three months have passed since their recovery.
Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the administration of a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only coronavirus vaccine that has received approval to be administered to children at any age.