Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Hezi Levi on Wednesday instructed Israel's four health funds to begin vaccinating anyone aged 35 and over, effective Thursday. The country was already vaccinating anyone over the age of 40.
Two of the health funds, Clalit and Meuhedet, had started vaccinating younger people last week, without waiting for government approval. Levi ordered both funds to immediately halt those inoculations.
The country also began Sunday to vaccinate 11th and 12th graders aged 17 and 18 in order to allow them to take their matriculation examinations without fear of infection.
Pregnant women have also been urged to get vaccinated due to concerns that the new strains of the virus pose more of a threat to them.
Israel began what has become the world's fastest per capita distribution of vaccines against the new coronavirus on Dec. 19, using the shot developed by the American firm Pfizer Inc. and Germany's BioNTech.
On Tuesday, the government said the inoculations were proving to be highly effective, with Israel not seeing a single serious case of COVID-19 among the more than 6% of the population who have received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
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Israel has begun vaccinating 11th and 12th graders so that they can take their matriculation exams without fear of infection
(Photos: Moti Kimchi, AFP)
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein told lawmakers Tuesday that he knew of "no serious morbidity" among Israelis eligible for the "green passport" issued by the state a week after the second dose is administered, when Pfizer says the vaccine is 95% effective.
Edelstein said 0.014% of the roughly half a million people who have received both vaccine doses had contracted milder forms of COVID-19.
The minister also said that 80% of at-risk Israelis have been vaccinated, with 252,000 waiting to be inoculated.
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A man is inoculated against coronavirus at a Maccabi HMO vaccination site in the central city of Givatayim
(Photo: Reuters)
Even so, the country is still struggling to contain the spread of the virus among the general population. Edelstein also warned Tuesday that new infections and hospital admissions for serious or critical COVID complications were at record numbers.
The Health Ministry said Wednesday evening that 4,778 people had tested positive for coronavirus in Israel since midnight, bringing the country's number of active cases to 74,785.
A total of 52,500 tests were conducted since midnight, yielding an infection rate of 9.1% - a slight reduction since Tuesday.
Israel has now seen 4,574 people succumb to COVID-19. A little over 25% of that total - 1,211 people - have died since the start of January.
The country also has 1,160 virus patients hospitalized in serious condition.
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The resident of a Herzliya care home receives the coronavirus vaccine
(Photo: Getty Images)
The Health Ministry blames highly communicable variants originating abroad for setbacks in Israel's bid to halt the spread of the virus.
A week after beginning vaccinations, it imposed its third national lockdown, which officials say may need to be extended past its January 31 expiry date.
But last Thursday it reported a reproduction number - known as "R" - of less than 1, which indicates that epidemic is no longer growing.
Reuters contributed to this report