Israel kicked of a nationwide campaign to vaccinate children aged 5-11 on Tuesday (November 23) hoping to beat down a recent rise in coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.
The country's HMO's began rolling out the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccinations for children on Monday (November 22) in several cities, but the campaign went nationwide on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Bennett accompanied his son David (9) as he received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine today, at a Clalit Health Services clinic in Herzliya.
A fourth wave of infections that hit Israel in June began subsiding in September. But over the past two weeks the "R", or reproduction rate of the virus, that had remained below one for two months began climbing and has now crossed the threshold indicating the virus could again be spreading exponentially.
Daily cases have also crept up over the past few days, with half the confirmed infections presently among children age 11 and younger.
Receiving their shots in front of television cameras, some of the children smiled and laughed, while others teared up and held on to their parents.
Israel's 9.4 million population is relatively young, with around 1.2 million children in the 5-to-11 age group. By November, that group comprised more than a third of new cases, according to health ministry data. Scientists and officials have been doubtful the country can reach "herd immunity" unless children are vaccinated.
Policy makers also say that the vaccination of younger children is meant first and foremost to protect their individual health and not just to stop the transmission of the virus.
In the past week they have stressed that although COVID-19 is rarely severe among young children and many show no symptoms at all, it can carry risks in the longer term.
Israel's health ministry estimates that one in 3,500 children infected with the coronavirus will later develop Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) in which parts of the body become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin and gastrointestinal organs. Most children who suffer from the condition require intensive care treatment and 1-2% die.
