Israel kicks off vaccine drive for kids aged five to 11

JERUSALEM • Israel has started rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged five to 11, hoping to halt a recent rise in coronavirus infections.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said the country is experiencing a "children's wave" with about half of the recently confirmed cases among children below the age of 11, he wrote on Facebook.

Mr Bennett was scheduled to have his own youngest son vaccinated yesterday morning, his office announced.

A fourth wave of infections that hit Israel in June began subsiding in September. But over the past two weeks the "R", or reproduction rate of the virus, that had remained below one for two months began climbing and has now crossed that threshold, indicating the virus could again be spreading exponentially.

Daily cases have also crept up over the past few days.

The children's vaccine drive kicked off on Monday in Tel Aviv, where a small number of parents quietly lined up with their children at a public square to get shots. The campaign started to go nationwide yesterday.

"The kids go to school, they (mix) with (other) kids, and they are doing a lot of social activities. We are very excited to vaccinate them and get (back) to normal life," said Ms Katy Bai Shalom, whose son and daughter were vaccinated on Monday.

Receiving their shots in front of television cameras, some of the children smiled and laughed, while others teared up and held on to their parents.

Israel's 9.4 million population is relatively young, with around 1.2 million children aged five to 11.

By November, that group comprised more than a third of new cases, health ministry data shows.

"Right now during the epidemic, the best tool to protect our children is vaccination," said Ms Heli Nave from outside a clinic giving the Pfizer-BioNTech jabs to children. She said "it is not an easy decision at all" but the availability of data from the United States - which started immunising five-to-11-year-olds earlier this month - had convinced her.

Scientists and officials have been doubtful the country can reach "herd immunity" unless children are vaccinated.

Policymakers say the vaccination of younger children is meant first and foremost to protect their individual health and not just to stop the transmission of the virus.

Israel's health ministry estimates that one in 3,500 children infected with the coronavirus will later develop multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in which parts of the body become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin and gastrointestinal organs.

Most children who suffer from the condition require intensive care treatment and the death rate is 1 per cent to 2 per cent.

Officials have also noted the risk of lingering symptoms, such as sleep disruption, muscle pain, loss of smell and taste, headaches and a cough, commonly known as "long Covid".

A survey by the health ministry of more than 13,000 children shows that around 11 per cent had suffered lingering symptoms, with about 1.8 per cent to 4.6 per cent - depending on their age - continuing to experience symptoms six months after becoming ill.

A poll by Israeli healthcare provider Maccabi has found that 41 per cent of parents to children aged five to 11 were positive they will vaccinate their children, while 21 per cent were still undecided and 38 per cent will not vaccinate their children.

REUTERS