Edelstein says Israel will suspend new vaccines for 3 weeks

Israel began their coronavirus vaccination campaign 12 days ago and has already infected more than 800,000 people. There are fears, however, that the rapid pace of the campaign could lead to vaccine shortages.

Edelstein told Ynet starting Jan. From February 10 to 1, health authorities will only give a second injection to those who have already been placed in an effort to avoid running out of treatment.

“There will never be a situation where Israel does not have enough vaccines to store with people with the second dose, if we could not vaccinate half a million people every day,” he said.

Edelstein said the inoculation of the general public could begin before the beginning of February, depending on the supply available.

“We expect to receive millions of Pfizer vaccines in the next two months. We are also in talks with Moderna, with its vaccines due to arrive by March at the latest. hope to get them ahead of time. ”

In June, Israel signed an initial agreement with Moderna, which was subsequently extended to cover six million doses.

Edelstein also said that the ministry is working on issuing “Green Packages” to people who receive both doses of vaccines, allowing them to fly abroad and be quarantine-free when they return.

“We are still working on it, there are a number of international agreements that we need to sign first,” he said.

Edelstein also slammed decisions about a nationwide lockout, which Israel entered into on Sunday afternoon, saying it is far from the real steps needed.

“Let’s stop this as a lock, these are just restrictions,” he said. “This is not a lockout, there are restrictive restrictions on places of trade, education and places of infection.”

He said the lockout in its current form will not be enough to bring daily affairs down to at least a mile a day and that next week the Ministry of Health will call on the government to tighten restrictions.