The Ministry of Health has informed Israeli healthcare providers that it is considering opening vaccination to all adult audiences in the coming days, Channel 12 News reported Tuesday night.
The report said a decision would be taken on Wednesday, with health officials assessing that the move is likely to happen immediately, due to a general slowdown in public participation in the vaccination campaign.
In the meantime, the ministry is also looking to vaccinate some of those designated as having recovered from COVID-19 – a group that has so far not been prioritized. The report said that people whose illness was being questioned – who were asymptomatic, had a borderline positive result or were not clearly infected with the virus – will also be able to get vaccines.
Get the daily edition of The Times of Israel by email and never miss our top news.
The national vaccination campaign has slowed in recent days, with health professionals finding it increasingly difficult to get people to come to be vaccinated and some places with overdoses inviting anyone and everyone who wants to be vaccinated. At least one provider was forced to throw out expired doses, according to reports on Monday.
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a sports center transformed into a vaccination center in Hod HaSharon, central Israel, February 2, 2021 (Miriam Alster / Flash90)
Channel 12 reported on Tuesday that health maintenance organizations are also witnessing a worrying phenomenon of people making appointments for vaccinations and not attending.
He also said that an increasing percentage of people appear to be missing their second – and vital – dose of the vaccine: a Leumit HMO document showed that absences increased to 6.6% on Monday, compared to 2.2% two weeks ago.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the country plans to vaccinate 90% of people over 50 against COVID-19 in two weeks, as part of its race to offset the rapidly spreading coronavirus mutations.
With the cabinet set to meet on Wednesday to decide on next steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Health is concerned that the end of the elements of the blockade on Friday will lead to a weekend of family reunions. and social housing and a subsequent increase in some cases, reported Channel 12.
People in a sports gym turned into a vaccination center in Hod HaSharon, central Israel, February 2, 2021 (Miriam Alster / Flash90)
Netanyahu and health officials want to extend the ongoing blockade until early next week, saying it will allow hundreds of thousands of people to be vaccinated against the virus before some restrictions are eased. His coalition partners in Blue and White are looking for some closing restrictions to be removed as early as Friday, including the limit of traveling more than a kilometer from home.
Netanyahu noted on Tuesday that 77% of people over 50 have already received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine that Israel is using in its mass inoculation campaign, and said that if it can fully inoculate this population, “then we are on our way victory over the coronavirus. ”
He noted that 97% of COVID deaths and 93% of serious cases occur among people over 50.
More generally speaking, Netanyahu urged all Israelis to get vaccinated.
“This is important for all of us, because it allows us to open the economy little by little and, above all, save lives,” he said.
Video screenshot of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a briefing on the coronavirus outbreak at the Ministry of Health, February 2, 2021. (Ynet news)
Netanyahu said the closure would be gradually lifted over the next week, insisting that he wants to extend the strict block, now in its fourth week and expected to end on Friday, until after the weekend.
Extending the blockade for another three days would mean that an additional 200,000 people could be vaccinated, including about 120,000 aged 50 and over, Netanyahu said.
He also responded to calls from coalition partners in the Blue and White party to ease some limitations on Friday, dismissing it as “populism”.
Edelstein, who reportedly lobbied Netanyahu to extend the blockade, warned that if it was suspended as planned on Friday, there would likely be an increase in social activity, with friends and family gathering over the weekend, and many commercial sites open ” attract millions of people. “
“We need to prevent this,” he said, warning that if the restrictions were reversed before the weekend, the day would forever be known as “Black Friday”, due to the consequences of the spread of the virus.
Blue and White, in response, said the press conference was an attempt to “cover up the failure of the blockade”.
“If we don’t come up with an exit strategy, there will be no public faith,” said the party and insisted that its approach is based on responsible principles.
Staff members at Shaare Zedek hospital wearing safety equipment while working in the coronavirus ward on January 27 (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
Blue and White announced that it would support the maintenance of a strict blockade in cities with the highest infection rates, but would also recommend that in other areas some restrictions be lifted. This includes a ban on traveling more than 1 kilometer (0.625 miles) from home except for essential needs, a ban on operating companies that serve customers one at a time, a ban on restaurants offering food personally (restaurants are currently it is only allowed to sell food on delivery) and the ban on inns hosting nuclear families.
The party said it would support general prohibitions that limit meetings to just five people indoors and ten outdoors.
The fourth blocking week was added on Sunday, with Blue and White only agreeing to the measure on the condition that enforcement is increased to ensure that the closure is effective, and with the approval of a law that doubles the fines for offenders. . The party, led by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, was reluctant to continue blocking measures that closed all deals except the essentials and the entire educational system, except for special education institutes.
Some slowdown in the education system is expected to be approved by ministers next week.
People walk in the city of Ramle, January 29, 2021, during a third national blockade (Yossi Aloni / Flash90)
Despite more than three weeks of blockade and a world-leading vaccination program that has given at least the first of two doses of the vaccine to more than a third of its population, Israel has found that the number of daily cases of the virus remains high; the number of critically ill patients arrested in more than a thousand, overloading hospitals; and the positive test rate has barely dropped.
The Ministry of Health figures released on Tuesday showed that there were 8,281 confirmed cases the previous day, with a positive test rate of 9.2%.
Since the outbreak began last year, 659,978 people have been diagnosed with the virus in Israel and 4,887 have died of COVID-19. There are 72,662 active cases, including 1,111 critically ill patients, of which 413 are considered critical.
Ministry data showed that 3,227,511 people had already received the first dose of the vaccine, including 1,852,075 who also received the second vaccine.