TEL AVIV—Israel will on Thursday begin inoculating everyone over 16, the government said, expanding the world’s fastest Covid-19 vaccination drive as it contends with a fresh surge in infections.
The small Middle Eastern country has already administered the first shot of a recommended two-dose regimen to more than a third of its roughly nine million population since beginning its program on Dec. 20. It started the campaign by targeting those over 60 years old and the most vulnerable, including front-line medical workers, and gradually expanded that list in the weeks since. About a fifth of the entire population is fully vaccinated, according to data from Israel’s health ministry.
Israel, which leads the world in vaccinating against Covid-19 in terms of percentage of the total population inoculated, aims to inoculate most of its population by March. That was made possible after it paid a premium for early shipments from
Pfizer Inc.
and agreed to share data about its vaccine, from effectiveness to side effects. It also placed orders with other vaccine companies, including
Moderna Inc.
and
AstraZeneca
PLC.
Meanwhile, infections have continued to increase in recent weeks despite a monthlong lockdown that has included a total ban on international flights since last week. Israel increased fines for those violating the lockdown earlier this week but enforcement remains a challenge, particularly among Israel’s hard-hit ultraorthodox community.
About 80% of Israel’s current cases were caused by a fast-spreading coronavirus variant from the U.K, according to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We will be on the way to victory over the coronavirus, of course, if there are no surprises such as new mutations that we are not familiar with and which could enter Israel,” he said Tuesday at a press conference.
Israel’s cabinet is meeting again on Wednesday evening to discuss extending the nationwide lockdown so that its vaccine drive can continue to catch up with the fresh outbreak.
Mr. Netanyahu said Israel’s exit from the lockdown will depend on vaccinating 90% of those over 50 in the next two weeks, because that age group accounts for the majority of serious cases. So far Israel has vaccinated 77% of this group, he said.
Israel’s health ministry on Wednesday instructed its four health-maintenance organizations to allow everyone over 16 to be vaccinated. The campaign until now was open to people between 16 and 18 and over 35.
The move also comes as health-care providers have been struggling in recent days to use all of their vaccine supplies as initial enthusiasm for the campaign has diminished, fewer people are showing up for shots and the proportion of people in the target groups still to be vaccinated shrinks. Israel is reaching a high percentage of those over 60, and some groups including ultraorthodox, teachers and Arab Israelis have been less receptive to the vaccination campaign.
The number of people getting vaccinated each day has dropped by half over the past week, according to health ministry data. Israel has a goal of vaccinating over 200,000 a day. The country vaccinated 100,097 people on Tuesday and 116,814 people on Monday.
Israel currently has 73,700 coronavirus cases, including 1,108 seriously ill patients. So far 4,890 people have died and newly recorded cases are hovering at around 7,000 a day.
Israel transferred on Monday 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the Palestinians amid growing concerns that the disease’s spread in the neighboring West Bank and Gaza could become a threat to the country.
—Dov Lieber contributed to this article.
Write to Felicia Schwartz at [email protected]
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Appeared in the February 4, 2021, print edition as ‘Israel to Inoculate All Residents Over 16.’
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