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The Ministry of Health will limit hospital visits to unimmunized people against measles and deny them access to sensitive units such as those for premature babies, intensive care units and hematology units where patients usually have a weakened immune system.
In recent months, dozens of toddlers, children and premature babies who have spent time in one of these units have been summoned for measles treatment for fear of Be exposed to the disease.
The Health Ministry decided on Sunday that further measures were needed to contain the epidemic and was examining the possibility of banning unvaccinated children from schools, which is a complicated step from a legal point of view.
On Monday, Ministry of Health officials decided not to increase the age of the first dose of the vaccine from 12 months to 9 months, because of the limited efficacy of the vaccine at this age and the need to repeat the vaccine at 12 months. for babies who are vaccinated early.
However, health ministry officials responsible for epidemic areas may decide to call babies aged 9 to 11 months for an early vaccine. This decision was made in discussions with representatives of health maintenance organizations and the president of the pediatric union, among other experts.
The disease was diagnosed in two other 12-year-old students in the Golan Heights town of Katzrin. According to information received Sunday, these young women were educated against measles last week. The ministry contacted their parents.
The first year students of the Rimonim School in Ashdod received their second dose of the vaccine after an alert caused by a teacher who reported having contracted the disease, but it turned out that it did not happen. was not the case afterwards. The same teacher works in three other schools. The ministry was investigating the case.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,334 cases of measles have been reported, including one death due to the disease, an 18-month-old girl. She was the first person to die of measles in Israel in 15 years.
In Jerusalem, the number of cases has increased by 60%, especially in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods. The ministry has decided to expand its vaccination program in the city, especially in these more vulnerable areas. According to officials, a vaccination campaign in recent weeks has raised the level of immunity from only 55% to more than 80% of the population. But the vaccination rate remains lower than in the rest of the country.
The ministry extends the opening hours of the mother-child clinics and keeps them open from 8 am. until 8 pm and on Fridays from 8 am until noon. In addition, a wheeled vaccination program will continue to reach affected neighborhoods and encourage residents to be vaccinated.
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