Israel begins immunizing children aged 5 to 11

Audio 01:18

Liron, an 11-year-old Israeli, receives his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Meuhedet health insurance center in Jerusalem.

© Sami Boukhelifa / RFI

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

A pioneer in vaccination against Covid-19, Israel launched its campaign to vaccinate children against the coronavirus on Tuesday, November 23, thus becoming one of the first countries after the United States to lower the age of vaccination.

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The nurse explains to Liron what she is about to do step by step. The young boy rolls up his sleeve, he closes his eyes, grits his teeth. “ 

There you go!

“At 11, the young college student is the last of the family to be vaccinated. “ 

As soon as we were able to get vaccinated, we all did. My other son, who is 14, was also vaccinated as soon as possible,

explains Naama, Liron's mother.

Often, children are healthy carriers, they are asymptomatic and they spread the virus. It's true that it scares me a bit, but I believe in science.

 "

Like the United States

, the United Arab Emirates and China in particular, Israel is now among the countries that allow vaccination of children between the ages of 5 and 11.

The Hebrew state hopes to curb the fifth wave of Covid-19 in this way.

The government had planned to launch the vaccination campaign on Tuesday, but as of last night doses were administered to the little ones.

"No fear to have"

In the waiting room of the Meuhedet vaccination center in Jerusalem, several children quietly wait their turn with their parents. “ 

The adult population is vaccinated and is no longer at risk. What we have seen over the past few months is that most of those infected with Covid-9 are children in this age group of 5-11 years. By vaccinating them, we will protect the whole of society,

assures Galia Kuno, head nurse of the vaccination center, at the microphone of our correspondent

Sami Boukhelifa

.

And there is no fear. Covid is much more dangerous for children than vaccination

 ”.

The Hebrew state was one of the first countries to launch, in December 2020, a vast vaccination campaign thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer which gave it rapid access to millions of paid doses in large-scale vaccine effect data exchange. This campaign resulted in the double vaccination of more than 5.7 million of the approximately nine million Israelis, or more than 80% of adults.

The authorities subsequently launched a campaign for the administration of a booster dose, already given to more than four million people.

They also lowered the age of access to the vaccine to 12 years, before giving the green light to vaccination from the age of 5 in the wake of clinical trials by Pfizer, a campaign in this direction to United States and recommendations from Israeli scientists.

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