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Israel reported on Monday a decrease in the effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in preventing infections and symptomatic illness but said it remained highly effective in preventing serious illness. The decline coincided with the spread of the delta variant and the end of social distancing restrictions in Israel. (7/6)

Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine was less effective at keeping people from getting the coronavirus in Israel in recent weeks, but it continues to provide a strong shield against severe Covid-19, according to government data. The vaccine protected 64% of people against the illness between June 6 and early July, down from a previous 94%. The drop was observed as the delta variant was spreading in Israel, the Health Ministry said. It also coincided with the lifting of virus restrictions at the start of June. (Odenheimer and Shepherd, 7/5)

The U.S. government is ready to deploy booster shots if scientists and health officials determine they’re needed in the fight against Covid-19, White House pandemic response coordinator Jeff Zients said. With increases in cases in parts of the U.S. linked to low vaccination rates and the more-contagious delta variant that’s spreading throughout the nation, Zients said President Joe Biden’s administration will push ahead with encouraging young people and others to get shots. (Yang, 7/4)

When it came to coronavirus vaccination, the third time was the charm for Esther Jones, a dialysis nurse in rural Oregon. After two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine failed to jolt her immune system into producing antibodies, she sought out a third, this time the Moderna shot. It worked. Blood tests revealed a reasonable antibody response, although lower than what would be detected in healthy people. She received a fourth dose last month in hopes of boosting the levels even more. (Mandavilli, 7/4)

Two weeks ago, virologist Angela Rasmussen received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to boost her immune system, which was already primed by a Johnson & Johnson shot. No U.S. health agency has recommended this vaccine combo. And Rasmussen, a research scientist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada, remains confident in data that show one J&J dose will prevent her from getting hospitalized with covid-19, the illness caused by the virus. (Guarino and Chiu, 7/4)

KHN: New Research Finds J&J Vaccine Has Muscle Against Covid’s Delta Variant 

In the past two weeks, many medical experts started to question whether the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is administered in a single dose, would be as effective as the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine in protecting against the new, highly transmissible delta variant that is poised to become the dominant strain in the U.S. The reason for their doubts were studies showing that the J&J vaccine was less effective at preventing disease than the other two vaccines and also less protective against variants. In recent days, several scientists and even members of the public who originally got J&J decided to get a “booster dose” of an mRNA vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, to bolster their immune systems. (Knight, 7/2)