Israel begins COVID-19 vaccinations for all over-16s as cases, deaths surge again
February 3, 2021, 11:01 am

Israel begins COVID-19 vaccinations for all over-16s as cases, deaths surge again

An Israeli health worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine to a woman at Clalit Health Services, in the hallways of the Netanya stadium, on January 20, 2021 in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya. (AFP)

Israel will expand COVID-19 vaccinations to include all citizens over the age of 16, officials said on Wednesday as cases and deaths surged again, setting back a predicted turnaround.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hoped that Israel’s fast vaccination drive, twinned with a third national lockdown now in its sixth week, would enable a reopening of the economy this month. He is up for reelection on March 23.

But serious cases and deaths have risen sharply, attributed mainly to highly communicable foreign virus variants. That has offset gains from the vaccines. The lockdown, meanwhile, has been widely violated and challenged in the Cabinet.

Health Ministry figures show that Israel has recorded 663,665 cases and 4,888 deaths to date.

“The reduction in morbidity has rather halted,” Nachman Ash, the national pandemic response coordinator, said on Kan radio.

Around 35 percent of Israel’s 9 million population have received the Pfizer Inc vaccine, the Health Ministry says. But the day-to-day increase in vaccinees has averaged around 2.5 percent this week, down from 3.05 percent last week and 3.3 percent the week before.

The ministry announced that, as of Thursday, anyone over the age of 16 could get vaccinated. Eligibility was previously limited to those over the age of 30, aged between 16 and 18 or with medical conditions or critical high-risk jobs.

According to a poll aired by Kan, 31 percent of Israelis were unsure about whether to get the vaccine and 36 percent worried about its safety. Uncertainty about vaccine effectiveness against some coronavirus strains has stirred speculation that Israel could rescind the exemption from quarantine now accorded to vaccines.

“I think that, naturally, the more we go down from ages at which the risk is higher, more effort has to be made to bring the population out to get vaccinated,” Ash said.

He said several hundred vaccine doses had had to be thrown away after they expired, unused, due to no-shows at clinics.

Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch told Israeli radio station 103 FM that children aged between 12 and 16 may be vaccinated starting in April, pending regulatory approval, but that including the under 12s “will take at least another year”.

source: Reuters

Image source: AFP

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”