Over 70% of Israelis over 16 have been vaccinated, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Tuesday morning.

A total of 4.5 million Israelis have received the first dose of the vaccine, of whom over 3 million received both doses.

The IDF stated on Tuesday that about 85% of its soldiers and personnel will be vaccinated within the next couple of weeks.

Vaccines have reduced infections among young people by 50%, according to a report by Prof. Eran Segal, who developed Weizmann Institute’s prediction model for the spread of COVID in Israel.

“The first group to see a drop was the over 60s, which saw a dramatic decline in serious illness, followed by those aged 55-60,” he said. “We estimate that we will see a similar drop among those aged 40-55.”

Segal said that the reduction in infections was seen five weeks after vaccinations were made available for IDF soldiers and anyone over age 16.

“Both these groups have shown a decline of over 50%,” he said.

Israel: Since the peak in mid-Jan.

60 y/o & above (vaccinated 1st):
77% fewer cases
65% fewer severely ill
63% fewer deaths

55-59 (vaccinated 2nd):
68% fewer cases
44% fewer severely ill

0-54:
54% fewer cases
15% fewer severely ill pic.twitter.com/uiNxh2GRNT

— Eran Segal (@segal_eran) February 22, 2021

“Once we are able to reach those quarter-million people over 50 that have not yet been vaccinated, we will see a dramatic drop in the potential morbidity other variants pose – excluding the South African mutation,” Segal added.

“We will not be able to eradicate serious cases completely, but we will be able to ease the burden on hospitals.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)