Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday that people are rushing to get a third vaccine shot as protection from the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Bennett pointed to Health Ministry statistics showing that more than 420,000 Israelis aged 60 and over have received a booster shot by Sunday, more than a third of the total targeted population of 900,000.
2 View gallery
An IDF soldier administers the third vaccine dose to an elderly woman at a clinic in central Israel
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
The prime minister, speaking after the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, said the number is expected to grow to half a million people by the end of the day.
With a rising number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, almost all of them infected with the highly contagious Delta variant, Israel has doubled down on its vaccination drive.
President Isaac Herzog was the first Israeli to receive a third shot as the country rolled out the campaign late last month. IDF troops were drafted to help administer the booster dose as serological tests indicated falling antibody levels among those who had the first dose of the vaccine in December and January.
Government officials have warned that unless a significant number of people are vaccinated in the coming weeks, the country faces a fourth lockdown during the Jewish High Holidays that begin with Rosh Hashanah on September 6.
2 View gallery
Police officers enforcing coronavirus regulations at a Tel Aviv shopping center Sunday
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
The government has also reinstituted several measures introduced during previous waves of the pandemic, including mask regulations for indoor settings, tighter "Green Pass" restrictions and masks for mass gatherings outdoors. It is also weighing more restrictions as the rate of infection climbs.
"We all understand the virus will not disappear anytime soon, here or anywhere else in the world," Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Sunday.
"The steps we are taking will allow us to conduct our lives safely along-side the virus in the long run."
Israel became a world leader in vaccinating against the virus during its initial public campaign, About 5.4 million of the country’s 9.3 million people have received two vaccine doses.
The World Health Organization in recent days called for a moratorium on administering booster shots to help preserve supplies so people in poorer countries can get their first doses.
The Health Ministry on Sunday said 2,886 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Saturday after 76,203 tests were conducted.
After 50 patients saw a deterioration in their condition on Saturday, the number of seriously ill people being treated in hospitals rose to 348, with 52 on ventilators.