Every Israeli over the age of 16 is eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccination, the Health Ministry announced on Thursday. This makes Israel the first country in the world to offer immunization to the general public regardless of prioritized risk groups.
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Israel has recorded 671,459 coronavirus cases and 4,947 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. Some 589,616 Israelis have recovered from the virus.
Health Ministry data showed that so far, 298,233 Israelis have received the first dose of the vaccination, and 1,906,942 have been fully immunized.
The Health Ministry reported of the 85,925 coronavirus tests it administered on Wednesday, 7,358 came back positive.
There are currently 76,896 active cases in the country. Some 1,768 Israelis are hospitalized, 393 are in critical condition, and 315 are on ventilators.
"Take advantage of this opportunity that almost no country in the world has," Health Minister Yuli Edelstein tweeted, calling on the public to get vaccinated. "Come en masse because this is the only way to overcome the coronavirus – together."
The decision to expand the inoculation drive to teens came in the aftermath of a drastic drop in the vaccination rate in recent days, as the vaccination sites that used to have long lines became almost deserted.
"When the campaign started, we used to check every person, according to their appointment and ID," an official as a vaccination site told Israel Hayom. "Now it's much more flexible. After a security check, we let people in and the medical staff can decide whether to vaccinate [that person] or not. From what I saw today, everyone who came got inoculated."
"The only way to exit the lockdown and overcome the pandemic is to continue to get vaccinated with determination and persistence," Director-General of the Health Ministry Professor Hezi Levi said, also calling on the public to get inoculated, adding that "the decrease [in the public's] responsiveness [to get vaccinated] is very worrying."
Meanwhile, the Bedouin sector in Israel refrains from getting vaccinated and even outright refuses to do so. In Rahat, Israel's largest Bedouin city, only 9.8% of the residents have received their vaccinations, 5.1% of them received both doses.
As for the ultra-Orthodox city of Beitar Illit, 9% of its residents have been vaccinated. However, the city has a population of about 65,000 residents, 70% of whom are under the age of 18. Beitar Illit has 992 residents over the age of 60, 600 of whom have already received their vaccinations.
Southern Israeli settlements Lehavim and Omer are leading the country in terms of vaccinations, the local community council announced. As of Wednesday, 65.45% of Lehavim residents have received their vaccination, 47% have received both. As for Omar, 64.62% have been inoculated with the first dose, 46.8% with the second one as well.
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