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Vaccination in Israel (archive picture)
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Oded Balilty / dpa
The spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus is also being observed with some concern in Israel.
Now the government has announced a new step in the fight against the virus.
People over 60 years of age can receive a fourth dose of vaccine.
But that's not all: A panel of experts from the Israeli government also recommended on Tuesday evening that health system employees should also be vaccinated for the fourth time.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called on all citizens who meet these criteria to get vaccinated.
According to his office, he instructed the health insurance companies to prepare for another broad vaccination campaign.
This will help "overcome the omicron wave that is flooding the world," said Bennett.
"Israeli citizens were the first in the world to receive the third dose of vaccination and we are continuing with the fourth vaccination."
The so-called Corona cabinet in Israel decided on new restrictions on Tuesday evening in view of the spread of omicrons.
In school classes in places with a high incidence, where less than 70 percent of the students have received a primary vaccination, there should be distance learning again.
The Ministerial Committee also decided to take stricter precautionary measures in shopping centers.
From January onwards, parents will also have to pay for antigen tests for students themselves.
An infection with the Omikron variant has already been detected in around 200 Israelis.
There are also several hundred suspected cases.
Variant already predominant in the USA
Israel has already passed the fourth corona wave.
Recently, however, the number of infections has risen again.
Only around 59 percent of the 9.4 million Israelis are still considered fully vaccinated.
These are twice vaccinated up to 6 months after the second vaccination and people with booster vaccination.
32 percent of the population are not vaccinated at all, with nine percent the vaccination has already expired.
According to official figures, the new virus variant has already spread considerably in other countries.
The US epidemic authority CDC recently stated that Omikron had replaced the previously prevalent delta variant within a short time.
jok / dpa