Israel’s vaccination rate slows as 70 per cent of over-60s receive jabs

A health worker of the Maccabi Health vaccination centre administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine,

Credit: Jack Guez/Jack Guez

Israel has slowed down its vaccination programme after a decline in appointments, prompting some clinics to offer a jab to all citizens. 

Clalit, Israel’s largest healthcare provider, allegedly had to dispose of 1,000 doses which expired due to a lack of patients, according to a report by Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.

It is understood that the slowdown is partly due to Israel having already vaccinated a third of its population, while around 70 per cent of over-60s have received both doses.  

A spokesman for Clalit told the Telegraph that they were seeing a decrease in interest for vaccines and that younger age groups in particular seemed less eager to receive a dose. 

“We recommend that everyone who wants to be vaccinated comes and gets the vaccine,” they added. “We are able to vaccinate up to 120,000 people per day and are doing everything we can.”  

Ynet News, an Israeli news website, said the government may widen the criteria for a Covid vaccine to all age groups later this week.   

Currently, the over-35s and those with underlying health conditions are given priority.   

It came as new data from the Israeli health ministry revealed that just 0.3 per cent of patients reported side effects, such as a mild headache or chills, after receiving a vaccine.   

The ministry said that after the first dose, 6,575 of 2,768,200 Israelis reported side effects to their doctor, or just 0.24 per cent.   

The figure after the second dose was 0.26 per cent, or 3,592 of 1,377,827 people.  

Israeli health experts said mild side effects are also known to occur when receiving other types of vaccines, such as the seasonal flu jab.