Israelis over the age of 30 will be able to receive a third shot of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of this week, Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai said Saturday.
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On Friday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, 49, kicked off Israel's booster campaign for adults over the age of 40 by getting his third jab.
"We're at the height of the battle now, together we can win; it's within arm's reach, but we're not there yet," Bennett said shortly before receiving the inoculation. "I'm asking you – use this unique privilege you have as Israelis, and go get vaccinated."
Within two days, 65,000 Israelis between the ages of 40 and 49 received their third vaccine shots. Altogether since the launch of the third jab campaign, more than 1,300,000 eligible Israelis have gotten their shots.
Dr. Ran Balicer, a member of the Health Ministry's pandemic response team, said he expected the infection rate to decrease dramatically "once we vaccinate more than 50% of Israelis over the age of 50."
With the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, infections have surged in recent weeks, raising fears of a lockdown over the High Holidays in September.
On Sunday, the Health Ministry reported that of the 99,036 Israelis it screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 5,312 (5.44%) tested positive.
There were 68,609 active cases in the country. Currently, 1,133 Israelis were hospitalized, 150 in critical condition and 104 on ventilators.
Israel has reported 912,619 cases, including 6,782 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.
Meanwhile, the Coronavirus Cabinet was set to convene on Sunday afternoon to discuss the opening of the academic year. While parents, teachers, and Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton insist the school year open as planned, on September 1, many want to postpone it due to the high morbidity rate.
Bennett said on Saturday night that the government's goal was to prevent another national lockdown, and by extension, children needing to study via Zoom.
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"We must learn to live and study alongside the virus," he said.
He also emphasized that the cabinet would be discussing reopening the school year only for pre-schoolers and elementary students. Middle school and high-schoolers will begin their studies as scheduled since they have been vaccinated.
Meanwhile, 1.7 million rapid coronavirus tests arrived at Ben Gurion International Aiport on Friday to be used by schools to administer to students ahead of the new academic year. The goal, according to Bennett, is to reduce the number of children who carry COVID from attending class in person and to quell the spread of the virus in the country.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
