The vaccination campaign for children aged 5 to 11 officially begins today, but the HMOs, which have already finished preparing for the operation, began vaccinating the children as early as yesterday afternoon.
So far, more than 600 children have been vaccinated: Clalit has vaccinated 350 children, Maccabi about 250 children and Meuhedet 33, and more than 22,000 appointments have already been booked for the coming days.
The Ministry of Health has refrained from targeting the extent of vaccination, but in the vaccines of adolescents aged 15-12, the vaccination rate is 68%, about six months from the start of the vaccination campaign.
In Israel, there are about 1.2 million children aged 5 to 11, of whom 22% are recovering (277,831 children).
In the first stage, recoverers and those with a positive serological examination will not be vaccinated until the discussion on the subject next week, which will be held by the team to treat the epidemics.
HMOs have opened hundreds of immunization points at vaccination centers, child health clinics and community clinics.
The United Health Insurance Fund operates a vaccine cell, where parents are proactively approached to make an appointment.
The children's immunization campaign is underway // Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Guy Lichter, 11, arrived with his mother at Clalit's vaccination compound in Kfar Saba and said after the vaccination: "I expected it to sting more and that it would affect me ... get vaccinated, if you do not want to reach the fifth wave."
11-year-old Gala Constante from Herzliya was also vaccinated at the Maccabi clinic in Ramat Hasharon.
She said, "My whole family was vaccinated and I was waiting for my turn. I think it's important, to keep the family, the friends, to finish with the isolations and fly abroad."
Sefi Roitblatt, nurse at Clalit: "We were excited to receive the first children to come vaccinated in Compound G in Kfar Saba. We are ready to open the vaccination campaign officially, in neighborhood clinics and child health centers. We have completed the training for staff, Here, too, with surprises for the children, "she promised.
Prof. Salman Zarqa, corona projector, said: "This is a holiday for children and parents who can protect their children. Indeed in most cases it is a mild and asymptomatic disease, but it can continue with long-term side effects such as long cobid and severe systemic injury - PIMS. We are preparing to run "The mobility of vaccines also in the periphery. There will be no shortage of vaccines and we will make them accessible everywhere - later also in schools, as has been the case until now."
Child vaccines, Photo: Gideon Markovich
Prof. Zarqa added in a press briefing: "We are definitely concerned about the increase in the coefficient of infection, we monitor and analyze data frequently. We did not see anything focused in a particular place or group. It seems that we left the fourth wave pretty quickly "R reminds us that the corona is here and that we need to act accordingly."
Ahead of the Hanukkah events and performances, he noted that "we will set up vaccine mobility so that parents can vaccinate their children near the show or event. The vaccines will be accessible and the decision is up to the parents. For children under 12 free. "
Meanwhile, according to data from the Ministry of Health, 509 verified patients were diagnosed yesterday, which is 1.04 percent of 50,811 tests performed.
The number of active carriers in Israel is 5,629 - of whom 129 people are hospitalized, 90 of them respirators.
The number of Israelis infected with the virus since the outbreak is 1,341,122.
The number of Israelis vaccinated in the third dose is 4,048,665 people, and the daily immunization rate is about 5,000 people.
Assaf Golan participated in the preparation of the article.