JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel expands COVID-19 vaccines to include all citizens over 16, officials said Wednesday as cases and deaths resurfaced, setting a turnaround expected.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hoped that Israel’s swift vaccination campaign, now tied for a third national closure in its sixth week, would allow the economy to reopen this month. He is up for re-election on March 23rd.
But real cases and deaths have gone up abruptly, largely due to well-communicated foreign viral changes. That has balanced the benefits of the vaccines. At the same time, the Cabinet was subjected to a major breakdown and challenge.
Ministry of Health figures show that Israel has recorded 663,665 cases and 4,888 deaths so far.
“The decline in morbidity has stalled somewhat,” said Nachman Ash, national broadcast response coordinator on Kan radio.
Approximately 35% of Israel’s 9 million population has received the Pfizer Inc vaccine, the Ministry of Health says. But the daily rise in vaccines has averaged around 2.5% this week, down from 3.05% last week and 3.3% the week before.
The ministry announced that, as of Thursday, anyone over the age of 16 could be vaccinated. Eligibility was previously limited to those over 30, aged 16 to 18 or with medical illnesses or high-risk occupations.
According to an opinion poll released by Kan, 31% of Israelis were unsure whether they should be vaccinated and 36% were concerned about its safety. Uncertainty about the effectiveness of vaccines against certain types of coronavirus has prompted profitability that Israel could waive their exemption from quarantine that is now given to vaccines.
“I think, naturally, the more we go down from an age where the risk is higher, the more effort has to be put into getting the population out to get the vaccine,” Ash said.
He said several hundred doses of vaccine had to be discarded after their extinction, unused, because there were no demonstrations in clinics.
Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch told Israeli radio station 103 FM that children aged 12 to 16 can receive the vaccine starting in April, pending regulatory approval, but that the inclusion of children will under 12 “at least another year”.
Written by Dan Williams; Edited by Angus MacSwan