TEL AVIV – Israel will begin inoculating all those over the age of 16 on Thursday, the government said, expanding the world’s fastest-growing Covid-19 vaccination unit as it contains a further rise in infections.
The small Middle Eastern country has already administered the first shot of a recommended dose regimen to more than a third of its population of about nine million since the program began on December 20th. the most vulnerable, including front-line medical workers, and were expanding this list in the following weeks. About one-fifth of the entire population is fully vaccinated, according to data from Israel’s health ministry.
Israel, which leads the world in vaccinating against Covid-19 in terms of percentage of the total inoculated population, aims to inoculate most of its population by March. This was possible after paying a premium for advance shipments from Pfizer Inc.
and agreed to share data on his vaccine, from efficacy to side effects. He also placed orders with other vaccination companies, including Moderna Inc.
and AstraZeneca PLC.
Meanwhile, infections have continued to rise in recent weeks despite a one-month blockade that has included a total ban on international flights since last week. Israel increased fines for those who violated the closure earlier this week, but enforcement remains a challenge, especially among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community.
About 80% of Israel’s current cases were caused by a rapidly spreading coronavirus variant in the UK, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We will be on the road to victory over the coronavirus, of course, if there are no surprises, such as new mutations that we do not know about and that could enter Israel,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
The Israeli cabinet meets again on Wednesday evening to discuss extending the closure across the country so that its vaccine can continue on the day with the new outbreak.
Netanyahu said Israel’s exit from the closure will depend on vaccinating 90 percent of those over 50 in the next two weeks, because that age group accounts for the majority of serious cases. So far, Israel has vaccinated 77% of that group, he said.
Israel says it is about to vaccinate all those over the age of 16 by the end of March. To understand how the small country has vaccinated more of its population than any other so quickly, WSJ visited clinics that shoot young, middle-aged citizens. Photo: Tamir Elterman for The Wall Street Journal (originally published January 11, 2021)
Israel’s health ministry on Wednesday instructed its four health maintenance organizations to allow vaccination of all over-16s. The campaign until now was open to people between 16 and 18 years old and over 35 years old.
The move also comes as health care providers have been struggling in recent days to use all of their vaccine supplies, as initial enthusiasm for the campaign has waned, with fewer people showing up to shoot. and the proportion of people in the target groups is reduced by the vaccine. Israel reaches a high percentage of those over 60 and some groups, including ultra-Orthodox, teachers and Arab Israelis, have been less receptive to the vaccination campaign.
The number of people vaccinated every day has halved over the past week, according to data from the health ministry. Israel aims to vaccinate more than 200,000 a day. The country vaccinated 100,097 people on Tuesday and 116,814 people on Monday.
Israel currently has 73,700 cases of coronavirus, including 1,108 serious patients. So far 4,890 people have died and the recently recorded cases are around 7,000 a day.
Israel on Monday transferred 2,000 doses of the Modern vaccine to the Palestinians, amid growing concern that the spread of the disease in neighboring the West Bank and Gaza could become a threat to the country.
—Dov Lieber contributed to this article.
Write to Felicia Schwartz to [email protected]
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