Health maintenance organizations will be authorized to start vaccinating patients who have recovered from the coronavirus, the Health Ministry announced Monday.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
In its press release, the ministry said the decision would come into effect starting Tuesday. Israelis aged 16 and up will be able to receive their jabs three months after recovering. However, contrary to standard procedure, they will only receive one shot of the vaccine.
The ministry added that it had nevertheless instructed the health providers to focus the inoculation efforts on those aged 50 and more – a group where only 13% are yet to be vaccinated, as per the latest data. Also of priority are Israelis across all age groups who have not received a single vaccine shot yet.
On Tuesday, the ministry reported that of the 90,751 tests it conducted the day before, 4,624 came back positive.
There are currently 39,190 active coronavirus patients in the country. Some 1,198 Israelis are hospitalized, of whom 729 are in serious condition.
Israel has reported 781,857 cases and 5,779 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year. To date, 736,888 Israelis have recovered from the disease.
Data further shows that as of Tuesday, 4,772,078 Israelis have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and 3,439,919 have been fully immunized.
Meanwhile, despite observing an increase in the infection rate in recent days, the government decided to go ahead with the next stage of the lockdown exit plan.
Beginning on Sunday, students in grades seven to 10 who live in "green" and "yellow" cities will return to studies at school. Small cafes and restaurants will be allowed to reopen without requiring visitors to present a vaccination or recovery certificate.
Those who possess a green passport will be able to attend large restaurants and hotels with prior reservations.
With the exception of "red" cities, Israelis will be able to gather up to 20 people indoors and 50 outdoors.
Health officials butted heads over easing the lockdown restrictions. Coronavirus chief Professor Nachman Ash proposed pausing the exit due to the rise in infection rate and the mass gatherings that took place on Purim, whereas Health Minister Yuli Edelstein insisted on continuing with the plan as scheduled.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
The ministry also expressed concern over the increase in infection rate and the forthcoming wedding season and Ramadan holiday in the Arab sector. In 2020, weddings and family meals were the leading cause of a severe COVID outbreak among this population.
In addition, the vaccination rate among Arabs is much lower relative to their number in the general public. Despite launching the vaccination campaign in Arabic, especially targeting the elderly Arab population, HMOs have had little success in getting them to the vaccination sites.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
