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Mobile vaccination units arrived on beaches in Israel on Saturday, hours before the deadline for teens to receive their first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as the expiration date approached.
“In recent days, we have seen an increase in morbidity, and in order to protect children and avoid new epidemics, we call on young people to come and get vaccinated,” said Sigal Dadon-Levy, new head of the Maccabi HMO Walla’s information site.
“To encourage vaccination and make it easier for teenagers to get vaccinated, we are sending vaccination units to their favorite place of entertainment: the beach. “
All health funds said they would operate vaccination centers across the country until late in the evening. A number of municipalities have encouraged young people to get vaccinated with offers of free ice cream and tickets to places of entertainment.
Israel’s current stock of Pfizer vaccines will expire at the end of July.
Thus, children aged 12 to 15 who have not received their first dose on Saturday will not be able to receive their second dose three weeks later, and will be forced to wait for the arrival of the next Pfizer batch.
Israeli teens get vaccinated against COVID-19 in a mobile unit on July 10, 2021 (Channel 12 screenshot)
During this time, people over 16 years of age can continue to be vaccinated with Moderna’s vaccine, which has not yet been approved for use in the under 16 age group.
However, outgoing Health Department chief executive Chezy Levy told public broadcaster Kan on Saturday that officials hope to secure another delivery of Pfizer vaccine next month so that inoculation of adolescents can continue.
Chezy Levy, director general of the Ministry of Health, speaks at a press conference in Jerusalem on February 10, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
According to Walla News, around 29% of 12-15 year olds have been vaccinated, as well as around 11% who contracted COVID-19 and recovered. This brings the immunity rate to around 40%, below the 50% expected by the Ministry of Health.
Levy said that despite the fact that the target was not met, the Department of Health was satisfied that the campaign was relatively successful.
“We started the campaign with 23% of children aged 10-19 [inoculated] and today we are 40% vaccinated. It’s not what we wanted but it’s still a lot and I think we will continue when we replenish the vaccine stocks, ”said Levy.
An Israeli woman receives a dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a campaign by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality to encourage the vaccination of adolescents on July 5, 2021, in Tel Aviv (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Israel’s vaccination campaign is currently only open to ages 12 and older. Authorities approved the vaccine for 12 to 15 year olds in early June, but authorities did not start encouraging vaccinations for the age group until late last month in response to the increase in the number of cases. .
Israel had been pushing to use or exchange more than a million doses of the vaccine that expire at the end of July.
Earlier this week, a plane carrying some 700,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine took off for South Korea, as part of a deal that will see Seoul send new vaccines in exchange later this year.
These doses are also expected to expire by the end of the month, and Korean authorities quickly decided to send them to distribution centers.
Bundles of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine sent from Israel arrive at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea on July 7, 2021 (AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon)
The deal came weeks after the PA withdrew from a similar deal, saying vaccine doses were too close to their expiration date, despite Israel using the same lots to vaccinate its teenagers. .
Vaccination has taken on renewed urgency around the world amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, first identified in India.
As of Friday evening, in Israel, the number of active cases stood at 3,793 and the death toll since the start of the pandemic at 6,434. The number of critically ill patients, currently considered the main factor by policymakers , slowly increased and stood at 40 on Friday.
A medical worker tests for the coronavirus at a basketball court turned into a coronavirus testing center, in Binyamina, Israel, June 29, 2021 (AP Photo / Ariel Schalit)
The resurgence of the virus due to the Delta variant has become a major problem for the new government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, occurring less than two months after the decrease in cases following the mass vaccination, allowing Israel to lift most restrictions and reopen public life.
The variant is believed to be more capable of infecting even vaccinated individuals, although in most cases it only causes mild illness for those vaccinated.
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