Against the backdrop of Israel's first-of-its-kind national coronavirus-preparedness drill, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed for the first time Thursday the matter of children's vaccines. On Wednesday, a team of Israeli health experts overwhelmingly supported the doses.
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"There is no reason to leave our children unprotected," Bennett said. "Therefore, I call on parents to vaccinate their children, to guard them, to give them the same protection that you have.
"The word is living in a coronavirus reality because the virus has not disappeared yet. Europe, for example, is at the height of morbidity now. And the most dangerous thing is not even the current situation, but that which we do not know yet. Just as the Delta strain broke out violently, so other, more deadly, contagious, and vaccine-resistant strains can arrive.
"The most important tool at our disposal today against the virus is, of course, the vaccines. Our goal is for the majority of the population to be inoculated. Now that the FDA has approved [the kids' vaccines], and so has the team of Israeli experts, there is no doubt about [their] safety."
With regard to the drill, Bennett said, Israel "was beginning an unprecedented event here. Not just on the level of Israel, but a global level. We are conducting a war drill for a potential new variant. We got Israel out of the Delta wave without a single day of lockdown. It is an important achievement in itself and it is important because it showed that there are other ways [to deal with outbreaks]. We have proved that with proper management, the pandemic can be defeated.
"Therefore, the State of Israel must prepare … Make sure that all government ministries are ready, that hospitals know how to deal with extreme situations, that our scientists are closely following every variant that has emerged in the world. Based on our experience, we will also aid other countries. We are already doing it and will continue to be a global center of knowledge and insights that will save lives all over the world," the prime minister said.
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