Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy announced on Wednesday that Israelis 35 and over are eligible to be vaccinated beginning on Thursday.

Over 2.8 million Israelis (30.92% of the population) have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and almost 1.5 million (16.25%) have received both doses of the vaccine.

However, despite its speedy vaccination campaign, Israel is grappling with a high infection and death rate due to the rapid spread of the British variant throughout the country. In just one alarming statistic indicating the escalation of the situation, over 25% of the 4,605 Israelis who died of the virus since the start of the pandemic were confirmed in the past month alone.

Health officials fear the South African variant is spreading throughout the population as well after identifying three cases in a random sampling.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)