Israel launches Covid vaccine campaign for children aged 5-11

Jerusalem: Israel on Monday launched a Covid-19 vaccination campaign for children aged 5 to 11, Israel’s health maintenance organisations (HMOs) said.

The vaccines will be given at HMO clinics throughout Israel, and the second dose for children will be given three weeks after the first one, according to a recommendation given by the Health Ministry’s advisory committee, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that the country’s goal is to vaccinate 50 per cent of nearly one million children aged 5 to 11 by the end of December.

The committee also decided on giving the third booster dose for adolescents aged 12 to 15, five months after the second dose.

So far, the number of people who have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Israel reached nearly 6.27 million, or 66.7 per cent of its total population, while about 5.76 million have been vaccinated with the second dose, and nearly 4.05 million have got the third dose.

(IANS)