The vaccine campaign against the corona virus in Israel, “Returning to Life”, continues to expand to other populations in the public. As of today (Sunday), HMO insured persons aged 45 and over will be vaccinated.
As mentioned, the Ministry of Health has defined a priority for the vaccinated population in Israel, according to which the first will be citizens aged 60 and over, patients in a risk group and medical personnel and the security forces. Depending on the progress of the vaccination campaign, the ministry has gradually lowered the age of the vaccinated – and from this week, those aged 45 and over will also be able to get vaccinated.
Netanyahu and Edelstein receive the second dose of vaccine. Photo: Without credit
To date, about 2.2 million people have been vaccinated in Israel, of which close to 200,000 Israelis have already received the second dose. In recent weeks, Maccabi Health Services’ evaluation and research department has conducted two main surveys in the context of vaccines. The first survey was done after the first vaccine dose, while the second after the second vaccine dose. The survey showed, among other things, that about 70% of the vaccinated reported mild pain after the first injection, compared with about 84% who reported the same phenomenon after the second injection. It was also found that young people experienced more side effects compared to vaccinators aged 60 and over.
The survey conducted after the first dose of the vaccine among about 72,000 vaccinators showed that about 24% reported side effects following the vaccine. Of these, about 7.5% reported weakness, about 7% had muscle pain and about 6.5% had headaches.
In contrast, the second survey of the first 600 vaccinated people with the second dose of vaccine found that about 70% of patients vaccinated with a second dose reported symptoms within 72 hours of receiving the vaccine. Of those surveyed, about 45% reported weakness, about 40% about muscle aches, about 35% about significant fatigue, about 30% about headaches, about 20% about fever and about 10% about nausea and dizziness.