JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has administered two doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than half of its population, the health minister said on Thursday, a global launch that helped the country emerge from a pandemic closure.
Distribution of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in Israel began in December, with eligibility being extended to citizens and residents over the age of 16 – about 69% of the 9.3 million population. People are considered completely protected one week after receiving the second blow.
In a statement announcing the milestone amid a sharp decline in new infections, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein urged citizens to “follow (health) guidelines so that the coronavirus does not return.”
He said 50.07% of the total population – or 72.5% of the eligible population – received both doses of the vaccine, while 55.96% of the total population received the first dose.
Israel began facilitating a nationwide blockade in late February. Most businesses and schools, as well as airports, have gradually resumed their activity – with capacity limits. Fully vaccinated people and about 8.7% of Israelis who have recovered from COVID-19 with alleged immunity receive Green Pass certificates from the Ministry of Health, which provide access to various places of recreation.
Israel saw an 85% drop in daily deaths from COVID-19, a 72% drop in critically ill people and an 86% drop in daily cases since the third pandemic peak in mid-January, according to the researcher Eran Segal from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. .
LIMITED CALL
The director general of the Ministry of Health, Hezi Levi, told Reuters that he believes that all eligible Israelis could be fully vaccinated by the end of May. But some officials privately estimate that 10% of the eligible population does not intend to be vaccinated.
Israel considers the Palestinians in East Jerusalem to be part of its population and has offered them vaccines. He also offered vaccines to Palestinians working in Israel and to settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian health officials have launched a limited vaccination program in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, using doses provided by Israel, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the global COVAX vaccine sharing initiative.
Israel has been criticized internationally for not doing more to allow Palestinian vaccinations. Palestinians are said to be responsible for health measures in self-governing areas.
A group of six Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups said they had appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court to ask the state to provide vaccines to the entire Palestinian population.
“COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates in the West Bank and Gaza are rising dramatically, but the supply of vaccines to Palestinians so far covers less than 1.5% of the population,” said one of the petitioners, Human Rights Doctors Israel. statement.
A poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Political Research and Surveys, published on Tuesday, found that 55% of Palestinians are willing to take the vaccine when it is available or have already received it, while 43% are not willing to take it. .
Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub; Written by Dan Williams; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Giles Elgood and Nick Macfie