The main thrust of the vaccination programme is over. With more than 5.1 million fully vaccinated and another 300,000 having had their first shot, every adult who wants a vaccination has had one.
Now that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use with children, the 600,000 Israelis aged 12-15 yesterday became eligible to be vaccinated, with 10,000 of them already making appointments. In a Times of Israel article, the desire to travel abroad is cited by young people as a reason to get vaccinated.
Interestingly, there is evidence that 30% of 12-15 year olds already have antibodies for Covid-19, suggesting that they have already been infected but not affected by the virus. With the start of vaccinations for young people, schools are being excluded from the change in rules from June 15 which will remove the need to wear masks in other indoor places. It is anticipated that a successful vaccination campaign for young teenagers will allow the mask requirement to also soon be dropped in schools.
With infection rates now very low, Israel has fallen again. to 24th place, for the number of coronavirus tests per million people (1,580,247), 15 places below the UK (2,735,997). This compares to the disputed territories in 94th place (353,640).
Israel remains in 63rd place for deaths per million people (688 per million). The UK has to 17th, with 1,874 deaths per million, far higher than Israel: a testament to the heroes of Magen David Adom and all those involved in the Israeli health system. Also impressive is the statistic for the disputed territories, with only 675 deaths per million people despite a slight rise to 65th place in the list. Both Israelis and Palestinians therefore remain much less likely to die of Covid-19 than the frequency of confirmed cases would suggest, whereas people in the UK are much more likely to die.