TEL AVIV – Israel will begin inoculating all those over 16 on Thursday, the government said, expanding the world’s fastest Covid-19 vaccination mechanism as it faces a new rise in infections.
The small Middle Eastern country has already delivered the first blow of a recommended two-dose regimen to more than a third of its population of about nine million people since its program began on December 20. The campaign began for people over the age of 60 and the most vulnerable, including front-line health workers, and gradually expanded the list in the weeks after. About a fifth of the entire population is fully vaccinated, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health.
Israel, which leads the world in vaccination against Covid-19 in terms of a percentage of the total inoculated population, aims to inoculate most of its population by March. This was possible after he paid a premium for early deliveries from Pfizer Inc.
and agreed to share data about his vaccine, from efficacy to side effects. He has also placed orders with other vaccination companies, including Moderna Inc.
and AstraZeneca PLC.
Meanwhile, infections have continued to rise in recent weeks, despite a month-long deadlock that included a total ban on international flights last week. Israel has increased fines for those who violate the blockade earlier this week, but enforcement remains a challenge, especially among the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel.
About 80 percent of current cases in Israel were caused by a rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus in Britain, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We will be on our way to victory over the coronavirus, of course, if there are no surprises, such as new mutations with which we are unfamiliar and which could enter Israel,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
The Israeli cabinet is meeting again on Wednesday evening to discuss extending the blockade nationwide so that its vaccination action can continue to recover the new outbreak.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel’s exit from the blockade would depend on vaccinating 90% of those over the age of 50 in the next two weeks, as most of the age group is serious. So far, Israel has vaccinated 77 percent of the group, he said.
Israel says it is about to vaccinate everyone over the age of 16 by the end of March. To understand how the small country vaccinated more of its population than any other so quickly, the WSJ visited clinics that offer photos to young and middle-aged citizens. Photo: Tamir Elterman for The Wall Street Journal (originally published on January 11, 2021)
The Israeli Ministry of Health on Wednesday instructed the four health care organizations to allow vaccination of all those over 16 years of age. The campaign so far has been open to people between 16 and 18 and over 35 years old.
The move also comes as healthcare providers have struggled in recent days to use all their vaccines, as initial enthusiasm for the campaign has waned, fewer people showing up for photos and the proportion of people in target groups. to be reduced vaccinated. 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 in the last week, according to the Ministry of Health. 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 seriously ill patients. So far, 4,890 people have died, and recent cases number about 7,000 a day.
Israel transferred 2,000 doses of Moderna vaccine to Palestinians on Monday amid growing concerns that the spread of the disease to 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]
Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8