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Israel's Prime Minister has announced a program to roll out a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people over the age of 60, becoming one of the first countries in the world to make such a move, CNN reports.

People over 60 will need to show they received their second dose of the vaccine at least five months ago.

Thursday's announcement follows a strong recommendation from the government-appointed team of experts on the pandemic to offer older adults a third dose. The experts' advice, which came overnight on Wednesday, was based on data suggesting significant waning immunity from infection over time.

Some of the data considered by the health ministry comes from research on the "justification, safety and efficacy" of a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for hemodialysis patients that was posted as a pre-print paper earlier this month.

The research found that about two-thirds of hemodialysis patients (people who require the procedure to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys stop working properly) who had a suboptimal immune response after a second dose of the vaccine developed "optimal" antibodies and T cells after a third dose.

Israel's highly successful vaccination program first began in December, with then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the first to receive a dose on live television.

The country's vaccination program has won plaudits for its fast rate of making the vaccine available to the entire adult population, and more recently children aged 12 and over.