The director general of the Ministry of Health, Professor Hezi Levi, on Wednesday instructed the four Israeli health funds to start vaccinating anyone aged 35 or over from Thursday. The country already vaccinated anyone over 40 years old.
Two of the health funds, Clalit and Meuhedet, had started vaccinating the youngest last week, without waiting for government approval. Levi ordered both funds to stop these inoculations immediately.
Israelis queuing to receive coronavirus vaccine in Tel Aviv
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
The country also began vaccinating 11th and 12th graders aged 17 and 18 on Sunday to allow them to take the entrance exams without fear of infection.
Pregnant women have also been urged to get vaccinated because of concerns that new strains of the virus pose a threat to them.
Israel began what has become the world’s fastest per capita distribution of vaccines against the new coronavirus on December 19, using the feature developed by the American firm Pfizer Inc. and the German BioNTech.
On Tuesday, the government said the inoculations were proving to be very effective, as Israel saw no serious cases of COVID-19 among the more than 6% of the population that has received the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Israel has started vaccinating 11th and 12th grade students so that they can take the entrance exams without fear of infection
(Photos: Moti Kimchi, AFP)
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein on Tuesday told lawmakers he knew of “no serious morbidity” among Israelis eligible for the “green passport” issued by the state a week after the administration of the second dose, when Pfizer says the vaccine is 95% effective.
Edelstein said 0.014% of the approximately half a million people who have received the two doses of vaccine had contracted milder forms of COVID-19.
The minister also said 80% of Israelis at risk have been vaccinated, with 252,000 waiting to be inoculated.
A man is inoculated against coronavirus at a HMO vaccination site in Maccabi, in the central city of Givatayim
(Photo: Reuters)
However, the country continues to struggle to contain the spread of the virus among the general population. Edelstein also warned Tuesday that there were record numbers of new infections and hospital admissions for serious or serious complications from COVID.
The health ministry said Wednesday evening that 4,778 people had tested positive for coronavirus in Israel since midnight, bringing the number of active cases in the country to 74,785.
A total of 52,500 tests were performed from midnight, with an infection rate of 9.1%, a slight reduction since Tuesday.
Israel has now seen 4,574 people succumb to COVID-19. Just over 25% of that total (1,211 people) has died since early January.
The country also has 1,160 patients with hospitalized viruses in serious condition.
The resident of a care home in Herzliya receives the coronavirus vaccine
(Photo: Getty Images)
The Ministry of Health blames the highly transmissible variants originating abroad for the setbacks in Israel’s proposal to curb the spread of the virus.
One week after vaccinations began, he imposed his third national blockade, which officials say may need to be extended after the Jan. 31 expiration date.
But last Thursday he reported a reproductive number – known as “R” – less than 1, indicating that the epidemic is no longer growing.
Reuters contributed to this report