The Ministry of Health recommended, on Tuesday, giving a booster dose of the COVID vaccine to children between the ages of 5 and 11 years, as the number of daily infections with the Corona virus continues to rise, which raises fears that the country will enter the sixth wave of the virus.
Officials have instructed health funds to prepare to make vaccines available for children in this age group.
The third dose can also be given to children who have recovered from coronavirus more than three months ago.
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Israel began vaccinating children aged 5-11 in November last year, but Health Ministry figures released on Tuesday show that so far 76.5% of children in that age group have not been vaccinated.
The data also showed that in the past month, 1,261 unvaccinated children aged 5 to 11 recovered from the virus again, along with 295 who received at least one dose of the vaccine.
7,330 new cases of the virus were diagnosed on Monday, the highest number since April 6, according to official ministry figures.
The R number for viral replication was reported as 1.51, the same as the day before. This number, which represents the situation seen 10 days ago, measures the number of people infected with the coronavirus on average, with any number above 1 meaning the spread of COVID is increasing. It started rising above 1 in mid-May, after staying below that limit for about two months.
Of the 30,090 active patients, 103 are in serious condition.
Israel has made mass vaccination a key strategy to deal with the coronavirus epidemic, and so far, 6,710,522 have received at least one dose out of 9.5 million people, including 6,142,332 received two doses and 4,496,066 three . 816,370 people received a fourth dose.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health recommended the resumption of the use of masks in closed places.
In a statement, the ministry noted the “sharp” increase in the number of infections in recent days, “as well as the increase in the number of serious cases.”
There was no indication that the ministry would decide to implement this recommendation, but it could consider restoring government restrictions, if infection rates continue to rise.
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