Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash signed an order on Wednesday allowing schools to vaccinate students during school hours, ending a political drama caused by Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton’s opposition to the measure.
Shasha-Biton, who has a long history of opposing coronavirus regulations, refused to permit students to be vaccinated during school hours, saying it would be “criminal” to do so. However, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and other senior health officials asserted that vaccinating students in schools, where students have received other vaccinations in the past, is the most efficient way to stem the infection rate among the younger population.
Several coalition members demanded that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Horowitz bypass Shasha-Biton and issue the order without her consent. Bennett himself blew up at Shasha-Biton in a meeting earlier this week, saying that she should be the one leading the vaccination campaign in schools rather than opposing it.
The Justice Ministry, ironically headed by New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar, did not believe that New Hope MK Shasha-Biton had the authority to ban vaccines during school hours. Justice officials consulted with Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit and he and Deputy Attorney-General Ran Nezri formulated a legal order allowing the Health Ministry to bypass Shasha-Biton. Students will get vaccinated only with the written permission of their parents.
Currently, only 35% of Israeli children aged 12-15 are vaccinated and Horowitz has warned that if more children don’t get vaccinated, the opening of the school year on time is at risk.
Following the directive, Chareidi boys, who began their school year on Rosh Chodesh Elul, began receiving vaccines in chadarim and Talmudei Torah on Thursday. Magen David Adom traveled to schools in mobile units to administer the vaccines.
Prof. Ash said on Wednesday that the vaccines, “especially for the younger population which is more contagious,” are the main means of bringing down the infection rates, “which is why it is important to do it in any way possible. Schools are a place where we’ve been vaccinating for years. I see no problem in continuing to vaccinate with this vaccine as well.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
It’s very telling that they’re only marketing “vaccinated” and they don’t market “Has a Green Pass” to include the “recovered” (“machlim”).
As bad as the scheduled vaccinations for children are, the covid shot is quite different in several ways: it is still experimental (and should actually stay that way too); there is no compensation for injury; and much more.