Health Ministry data released Wednesday raised doubts over whether the nationwide lockdown, Israel's third since the global pandemic erupted in March 2020, can be lifted next week, as planned.
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Israel has recorded 617,168 coronavirus cases since the pandemic hit the country, including 4,513 deaths. So far, 535,947 Israelis have recovered from the disease.
The national vaccination drive was progressing well, the ministry said, noting that so far, 2,768,202 Israelis were vaccinated with the first dose and 1,377,803 had received the second dose as well.
The Health Ministry screened 83,367 Israelis for the virus over the past 24 hours, and 7,737 (9.6%) tested positive for COVID-19.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said that morbidity rates mandate extending the lockdown by at least another week, a measure the government is expected to debate later on Wednesday.
The ministers were set to debate the issue on Tuesday, but Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said he would not back the decision unless he was presented with assurances that lockdown will be properly enforced in ultra-Orthodox communities.
Morbidity in the Haredi sector has been particularly high, mainly over the fact that the Haredi public consistently flouts Health Ministry directives, especially with respect to social distancing.
The past week has seen unprecedented riots in Bnei Brak, a Haredi city in central Israel, where law enforcement seeking to enforce directives were attacked by a local mob.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's Exceptions Committee has allowed HMOs to vaccinate 10 children under the ages of 16 against the coronavirus.
The vaccine has been approved for use for individuals ages 16 and over, but exceptions were made for the children, all of whom suffer from serious pre-existing conditions – severe lung disease, abnormal neurological conditions or morbid obesity – that place them at heightened risk of the disease.
No side effects were reported among the children, the ministry said.
Dr. Michal Stein, chairperson of the Israeli Association for Infectious Diseases in Children, said, "It makes sense in some cases to vaccinate children under the age of 16. This is not a sweeping recommendation, but an individual recommendation for cases where there are significant risk factors, such as lung disease, severe neurodevelopmental disorders or morbid obesity. There is no significant difference between immunizing a 16-year-old and a 14 or 12-year-old."
On Tuesday, a senior health official said that Israelis who received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine reported of side effects "unknown" to the pharma giant.
Director of the Infectious Diseases Prevention Unit at Sheba Medical Center Professor Galia Rahav told Israel Radio that several vaccinated individuals have arrived at hospitals with phenomena such as partial facial paralysis, also known as Bell's palsy, and paresthesia – an abnormal sensation of the skin such as numbness, tingling, a burning sensation, etc.
"When we noticed this and talked to them [Pfizer], they began receiving reports on this [as well]," Rahav said.
She stressed that these side effects are temporary and it is not certain that they were connected to the vaccine. "When 2.5 million people are inoculated at once, we will certainly see all sorts of phenomena occurring," she added.
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Despite Rahav's remark that Pfizer was not aware of these side effects, an FDA document examining the vaccine trials, released on Dec. 10, 2020, reported Bell's palsy in four vaccine recipients and none in the placebo group, out of the 44,000 total participants.
The FDA indicated there was no clear connection between the vaccine and the side effect but recommended monitoring this condition once the vaccine is distributed to the population.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
