In Israel, teenagers can now get the COVID-19 vaccine
A nurse administers a COVID-19 vaccine. Photo by Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images
(JTA) — Israel continues to far outpace the entire world in its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
This weekend the country’s health ministry announced that teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 are now eligible for the vaccine.
In all, Israel has vaccinated about 2.5 million out of its approximately 9 million citizens since beginning its drive in late December, the ministry said Friday.
At the same time, the country is in the midst of a strict third national lockdown due to a recent sharp spike in COVID cases.
The health ministry reported that 7,316 new cases were confirmed Friday. Earlier in the week, the new case number peaked at over 10,000, a record.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
