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In an update on the measles outbreak in Israel, more than 1,400 measles cases have been reported in the country, with a large portion being from Jerusalem, according to an Haaretz report.
The report notes, in October, there were almost 700 known cases. The most significant outbreaks were in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Betar Ilit, due to crowded conditions and vaccination rates of only about 50 percent. Smaller outbreaks occurred in the north and in West Bank settlements; there were also dozens of cases in Tel Aviv.
Recently, an 18-month-old infant in Jerusalem , the first death from measles in 15 years.
The outbreak has grown to a point where physicians at Jerusalem hospitals feel as if they are losing control of the situation.
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There has been a dramatic increase in recent weeks in the number of measles vaccines received by the general population in several neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman said, “There is an increase in the number of vaccines available, and this is the result of intensive work by all the bodies in the health system, but measles is still not behind us.”
Moshe Bar-Siman Tov, Director-General of the Ministry of Health, said, “We are concentrating a huge effort on measles and the system is taking over the event, although we are still more likely to see an increase in the number of people infected. Led by our medical teams, especially the professional nursing teams and the traditions, we succeeded in raising the immunization coverage.”
“We have succeeded in bringing Jerusalem very close to the national coverage rate of vaccinations, which is a tremendous achievement due to the nurses’ commitment. The public health system and the Israeli people should be deeply grateful to those nurses who have done long shifts of vaccination hours into the night of the outbreak, And leadership discovery,” added Bar-Siman Tov.
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