Israel approves vaccinations for children aged 5 - 11 in pursuit of herd immunity

Israel announced yesterday that children aged 5 to 11 can be vaccinated against Covid-19 and that the start date of the vaccination campaign will be announced in a few days.

The decision, announced by the Department of Health, follows approval by the Committee on Vaccine Specialists last week, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised the emergency use of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for this age group in a single dose of 10 micrograms.

It should be noted that the dose given to children 12 years of age and older is 30 micrograms. Pfizer and BioNTech have said that their vaccine has demonstrated to be 90.7% effective against the coronavirus in a clinical trial in children aged 5 to 11 years.

Israel's 9.4 million people are relatively young, with about 1.2 million children in the 5-11  age group with Health officials adding that the country cannot achieve "herd immunity" unless children of this age are vaccinated.

A poll in Israel last week found that 27% of parents would allow their children under the age of 12 to get the vaccine, with 33% opposed and 40% undecided.

Meanwhile,  four million Israelis have had 3rd dose booster shots, which were approved in August for those who had received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least five months earlier.