Amid an agreement between Pfizer and the Israeli government for new shipments of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine, the country’s health minister announced that immunocompromised patients would be immediately eligible to receive a third shot to boost their immunity.

“We have been working on the issue of vaccines for several weeks,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet. The country's current vaccine supply is expected to expire on July 31, just in time for fresh round of 200,00 doses to arrive the next day. Many believed Israel had overcome the pandemic as it raced past other nations to vaccinate its citizens but cases have surged amid growing concerns the Delta variant will wreak havoc on the country. The nation averaged between 10 and 20 cases per day earlier last month but the number has quickly soared more than 500 cases as of last week, though morbidity has remained low.