Noga Marom Mapat misses her friends • Hillel Shane from Givat Shmuel misses meals with grandparents • And Aviv Barak from Rishon Lezion misses school • In Israel there are about 148,000 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 16 Waiting for the next birthday so they can win the gift - the vaccine
"Miss friends and family": The children who are waiting to be vaccinated
Photography:
Yossi Zeliger
"Getting back to routine is worth the risk"
Noga Marom (15.5) 10th grade student from Petah Tikva
"I'm already waiting to reach the age of 16 to get vaccinated against Corona," explains Noga Marom, a tenth-grade student from Petah Tikva.
She lists several reasons: "First of all, the vaccine will allow me more independence and freedom - I can fly abroad and go to the movies, and I will have less risk and fear of getting infected." Marom is the daughter of deaf parents, who says she loves being with her friends: "I miss them, And if I store it, it will bring the return to normal. "
She said several of her family members, including her parents, grandparents and uncles, have been vaccinated against Corona and are feeling well.
"I am not afraid of the vaccine," she emphasizes, "I know that by the time I reach 16 I will have learned about the vaccine and maybe improved it, which also relieves the stress. Of course the long-term side effects are scary, but I think getting back to routine is worth the risk."
Merom adds that since the Corona broke out, she has also brought good things to her life: "I learned to know myself more deeply, appreciate the small things and be with my amazing family, but I also often felt boredom, frustration and longing for people who are important to me."
"I was disappointed I would have to wait"
Hillel Shane (15.2) A student at the Amit Givat Shmuel Ulpan
"I celebrated my 15th birthday about a month ago, just when they announced that they could only be vaccinated against the corona virus from the age of 16," says Hillel Shane, who is in ninth grade at Amit Givat Shmuel. This announcement disappointed her. Can't get vaccinated, I was disappointed I would have to wait another year.
I really want to get vaccinated because the vaccine will allow me to get back to my routine and do what I really love.
For so long I did not go to a movie with friends, I did not sit in a restaurant, I did not go to Bnei Akiva, and I even miss all the girls in the class sitting together in class and studying. "
One of Shane's great loves is dancing: "I haven't danced in the studio in a long time, and I love to dance so much. I think if I and all my peers get vaccinated, we can get back to our routine of life faster and not be afraid of contracting the disease."
Since March, when the plague broke out, Hillel has not visited her grandparents' house - and has not sat down with them for dinner.
"I really miss it," she concludes, "my grandparents have already been vaccinated, and I hope that even though I have not been vaccinated I will be able to meet with them as soon as possible."
"Studying at home is a nightmare for me"
Aviv Barak (, 15.5 student of the Ankuri network in Rishon Lezion)
"It is important for me to get vaccinated to protect our country, the family and the people who are important to me," explains Aviv Barak, a tenth-grade student at Ankuri High School in Rishon Lezion.
He says it's hard for him to see people's fear of leaving the house, and he believes that the more people are vaccinated, the more confident he will be: "I see children in my class, friends of my family, and especially my grandmother, afraid to leave the house - and it hurts to see Their fear. "
He adds that the vaccines will help students return to their school routines: "For a year now we have had to sit for a few hours a day and study from home, and for me it is a nightmare. It is impossible to concentrate and study, and I do not begin to talk about the great difficulty teachers have in teaching us."
Barak notes: "I personally know children who have already given up and prefer not to study and get out of school, just because they have lost hope."
He is aware that there are quite a few people who fear the vaccine: "I know there are those who are afraid to take the vaccine because of side effects and damage, but I am not one of them. I believe in all the scientists who sat, thought and spent months creating the vaccine for the corona virus."