1.

"Come speak with Darya's class," Hadas, the teacher, told me. "Share some life advice as they finish elementary school." The "Bereshit" school in Rehovot insists on calling itself an "educational home." And what a year they've had; such young students whose learning and play were interspersed with existential issues.

This week, Darya told me her generation has experienced more pandemics, wars, and alarms in their young lives than other generations. She stated it as fact, not complaint. In our conversations, I've noticed a historical awareness growing within her ("In thirty years, I'll tell my children that fields once stood where we walked"). I looked at her, wondering how to respond to a child with adult insights. You know, I said, it's precisely this thought that encourages me and assures me your generation will be better than ours – more resilient, unique, and profound. You will build the next floor of our lives here in the treasured land of our forefathers.

2.

I entered the classroom. The boys arrived breathless from their games while the girls sat with inner calm. I asked them to try to retain some of my words for the coming years. Words are seeds that need time to blossom and bear fruit. Perhaps you'll remember me decades from now, just as I recall something from finishing elementary school, right before leaving my childhood neighborhood, which until then seemed a distant star, to study at the Junior High Kiryat Ya'akov Herzog, an institution I can only liken to Harry Potter's Hogwarts...

You stand before the great sea of your lives, I told the children. It will not part on its own; it awaits your entry. The sea is deep, its depths filled with treasures, challenges, and dreams. Dangers also lurk there. We adults stand on the opposite shore, seeking to guide and warn you from our experience. You will face obstacles and difficulties. You may resent and rage against your fate. But you can view hardships as challenges meant to improve and build you. The difficulty will be the same, but your interpretation will determine how you overcome it and grow from it.

I still remember a classmate who played marbles and cards with me. I was privileged to soar while he remained on life's margins. One day I heard an explosive was planted on his scooter and he was killed. Gang warfare. The news shook me. I thought of our innocent starting line and the deceptive blink of an eye in which our fates could have been reversed under different circumstances. Not everything depends on adults or society, dear children; an important part of your destiny depends on you.

3.

It's vital to stay in constant motion, not rest on your laurels but to walk, not be lazy, to gather knowledge, ideas, friends, experiences, taking something from each station for the journey ahead. This is the first commandment given to Abraham, our forefather: "Go forth..." If we keep going, we ultimately reach the good land. The second commandment is Abrahamic: "Do not make for yourself an idol..." – don't turn yourself into a statue, don't become enamored with yourself, and think you know everything with nothing to learn from others. Remember Narcissus? Yes, some answered (Darya is now also discovering Greek mythology). He fell in love with himself when he saw his reflection in the river, closing himself off and missing out on life. So be sure to stay in motion and look around you. Be curious.

An important condition for success in life is the desire for knowledge. In physics, there is a law of conservation of energy. In education, there is a law of conservation of knowledge. No information you've learned will fail to serve you someday. You sit in a classroom, so even if you're bored, make an effort and listen, use the time to add more knowledge to your repository. Read books; it's the best gift you can give yourself. Whoever turns off the phone on Shabbat will be forced to read, even if they don't want to, like in the old days. Study the weekly Torah portion on Shabbat; this way the Bible will be part of who you are.

I told them the Quran calls us "Ahl al-Kitab," People of the Book, because of the Bible. But we are the People of the Books. We received the Torah, then came the Prophets and Writings, and in the second century, Rabbi Judah the Prince wrote the Mishnah. In subsequent centuries the Talmuds were written in Israel and Babylon, then Biblical commentaries in the Middle Ages, the Zohar, legal rulings, philosophy, and countless other books, until we erected a colossal skyscraper unmatched by any other nation for its descendants. Each generation added its own floor to the multidimensional edifice, and you, dear children, have the right to visit any floor you wish. Don't miss the opportunity; after all, you already speak the language.

4.

Study history. This way you will remember throughout your long journey where we came from and where we wish to go. I told them when we adopted the word in Hebrew, some spelled it "historyah," meaning God (Yah) concealing (Hester) himself behind national and global events and directing them. Soon we will reach the 9th of Av and commemorate the first destruction (586 BCE) and the second (70 CE). The Jews in the first exile despaired; they thought it was the end of Israel and there would be no continuity in the next generation. "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, we are cut off." But the prophet Ezekiel insists "our hope is not yet lost." He tells them of a tremendous historical vision God showed him: A valley full of dry bones turning into a multitude representing our people. And he promises that God will open our graves and return us home to the Land of Israel.

In the 1880s, a Hebrew poet in Romania wrote to his generation that as long as a Jewish soul stirs in our hearts, and as long as our eyes gaze eastward toward Zion, our hope to return to our ancestral homeland is not lost. I don't remember if they knew the poet's name, so I repeated it: Naftali Herz Imber. You understand, I told them, our national anthem corresponds with Ezekiel's prophecy. Indeed, our hope was not lost, and at the end of a long, painful process we came home to Zion. And from national history, we learn for our private lives: Even if you find yourselves in difficult situations later on, do not lose hope. Your redemption awaits just around the corner.

5.

"Dad," Darya whispered to me afterward, "two kids told me you could have spoken faster, and you repeated things." Honest children. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou founded strength, because of Thine adversaries; that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger (Pslams 8:3)" You're right, my daughter, because I understand the gravity of the task assigned to me and the importance of this conversation. I acted according to the eternal command "teach them to your children" (Deuteronomy 11:19 ) –  sons and daughters – hoping something of my words will be seared into the memory of one child, provisions for the road ahead, just as I remember to this day the kind eyes of my parents and teachers accompanying me, just before we entered the great sea of our lives.

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Israel plans to implement two tests a week for children in the education system, ending quarantine for students exposed to a COVID carrier, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced during a speech on Thursday with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton.

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"The children of Israel will return to studying. Starting next Thursday, we will start Operation 'Testing and Learning,'" Bennett stated.

All students up to the age of 18 will perform two tests a week at home, one on Sunday morning and one on Wednesday morning before going to school. If the child is negative, they can go to school as normal. If they test positive, they must be tested at a supervised test station and undergo quarantine for five days.

The Health Ministry sought to impose a requirement of three or four tests during the week after exposure, but this measure was opposed by Shasha-Biton.

These at-home rapid antigen tests will be distributed to all students free of charge.

Bennett called on parents to follow the new testing procedures and to refrain from sending the children to school if they show symptoms or test positive.

Following Bennett's speech, Horowitz reiterated the government's strategy of balancing public health, economy, and democracy.

"We chose the complicated but right way – without lockdowns... The easiest thing would have been to close everything down and send masses to unemployment, send all the students home, but when we say living next to COVID, this means also studying next to COVID."

Shasha-Biton stated that ending quarantine for students was the right thing to do for students and teachers, mentioning the mental health toll that isolation takes.

"Every child that comes to school is a child that we're saving," she said.

Currently, only vaccinated pupils have the option of returning to school without quarantine, while unvaccinated children are required to self-isolate for five-seven days if they are exposed to a COVID carrier.

According to data, only about a quarter of Israel's 1.3 million children between the ages of 5-11 – who are eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine – have done so, and only 12% got both shots.

Next Sunday, the Health Ministry's Epidemic Response Team is expected to convene to discuss the issue of the fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine, which is currently only available for people aged 60 and up.

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In a sprawling settlement of mud brick huts in western Afghanistan housing people displaced by drought and war, a woman is fighting to save her daughter.

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Aziz Gul's husband sold their 10-year-old into marriage without telling his wife, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family of five children. Otherwise, he told her, they would all starve. He had to sacrifice one to save the rest.

Many of Afghanistan's growing number of destitute people are making such desperate decisions as their nation spirals into a vortex of poverty.

Afghanistan's aid-dependent economy was already teetering when the Taliban seized power in mid-August amid a chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO troops. The international community froze Afghanistan's assets abroad and halted funding, unwilling to work with a Taliban government given its reputation for brutality during its previous rule 20 years ago.

The consequences have been devastating for a country battered by war, drought and the coronavirus pandemic. State employees haven't been paid in months. Malnutrition stalks the most vulnerable, and aid groups say more than half the population faces acute food shortages.

"Day by day, the situation is deteriorating in this country, and especially children are suffering," said Asuntha Charles, national director of the World Vision aid organization in Afghanistan, which runs a health clinic for displaced people near the western city of Herat. "Today I have been heartbroken to see that the families are willing to sell their children to feed other family members."

Arranging marriages for very young girls is common in the region. The groom's family pays money to seal the deal, and the child usually stays with her parents until she is at least around 15. Yet with many unable to afford even basic food, some say they'd allow prospective grooms to take very young girls or are even trying to sell their sons.

Gul, unusually in this deeply patriarchal, male-dominated society, is resisting. Married off herself at 15, she says she would kill herself if her daughter, Qandi Gul, is taken away.

When her husband told her he had sold Qandi, "my heart stopped beating. I wished I could have died at that time, but maybe God didn't want me to die," Gul said, with Qandi by her side peering shyly from beneath her sky-blue headscarf. "Each time I remember that night...I die and come back to life."

Her husband told her he sold one to save the others, saying they all would have died otherwise.

"Dying was much better than what you have done," she said she told him.

Gul rallied her brother and village elders and with their help secured a "divorce" for Qandi, on condition she repays the 100,000 afghanis (about $1,000) her husband received. It's money she doesn't have.

Her husband fled, possibly fearing Gul might denounce him to authorities. The Taliban government recently banned forced marriages.

Gul says she isn't sure how long she can fend off the family of the prospective groom, a man of around 21.

"I am just so desperate. If I can't provide money to pay these people and can't keep my daughter by my side, I have said that I will kill myself," she said. "But then I think about the other children. What will happen to them? Who will feed them?" Her eldest is 12, her youngest –  her sixth – just two months.

In another part of the camp, father-of-four Hamid Abdullah was also selling his young daughters into arranged marriages, desperate for money to treat his chronically ill wife, pregnant with their fifth child.

He can't repay money he borrowed to fund his wife's treatments, he said. So three years ago, he received a down-payment for his eldest daughter Hoshran, now seven, in an arranged marriage to a now 18-year-old.

The family who bought Hoshran are waiting until she is older before settling the full amount and taking her. But Abdullah needs money now, so he is trying to arrange a marriage for his second daughter, six-year-old Nazia, for about 20,000-30,000 afghanis ($200-$300).

"We don't have food to eat," and he can't pay his wife's doctor, he said.

His wife, Bibi Jan, said they had no other option but it was a difficult decision. "When we made the decision, it was like someone had taken a body part from me."

In neighboring Badghis province, another displaced family is considering selling their son, eight-year-old Salahuddin.

His mother, Guldasta, said that after days with nothing to eat, she told her husband to take Salahuddin to the bazaar and sell him to bring food for the others.

"I don't want to sell my son, but I have to," the 35-year-old said. "No mother can do this to her child, but when you have no other choice, you have to make a decision against your will."

Salahuddin blinked and looked on silently, his lip quivering slightly.

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His father, Shakir, blind in one eye and with kidney problems, said the children had been crying for days from hunger. Twice he decided to take Salahuddin to the bazaar, and twice he faltered. "But now I think I have no other choice."

Buying boys is believed to be less common than girls, and when it does take place, it appears to be cases families without sons buying infants. In her despair, Guldasta thought perhaps such a family might want an eight-year-old.

The desperation of millions is clear as more and more people face hunger, with some 3.2 million children under five years old facing acute malnutrition, according to the UN.

Charles, World Vision's national director for Afghanistan, said humanitarian aid funds are desperately needed.

"I'm happy to see the pledges are made," she said. But the pledges "shouldn't stay as promises, they have to be seen as reality on the ground."

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Lawmakers criticized Prime Minister Naftali Bennett Wednesday after announcement that his wife and children were going on vacation overseas, despite the premier's recent calls on Israelis to refrain from necessary travel abroad.

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The family's original destination was the island of Mauritius, which has since been added to the government's no-fly list along with 49 other African countries, prompting them to change their vacation plans.

"After the decision of the coronavirus cabinet to leave the skies open, the destination of the vacation changed in accordance with the updated guidelines. The Bennett family will, of course, follow all the guidelines and rules that apply to Israeli citizens," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement but did not specify to where exactly the family would be traveling.

During a press conference on Friday, Bennett urged Israelis not to travel abroad due to the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

"If someone asked me, at the moment I wouldn't recommend flying abroad amid a level of uncertainty like this," he said. "That's the truth."

In a Twitter post, Likud MK Israel Katz called the move "a political lie turned normal."

Bennett responded in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening, saying, "The Bennett family is subject to the same rules that apply to all Israeli citizens. I understand the criticism, however, we have learned more about the variant since Friday."

Also on Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first Omicron case in the United States.

"This is the first confirmed case of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant detected in the United States," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser, told reporters at a White House briefing. "As all of you know, of course, we've been discussing this, we knew that it was just a matter of time."

According to Fauci, the infected person returned from South Africa nine days earlier and tested positive for COVID on Monday.

The traveler was vaccinated with two vaccine doses and was experiencing "mild symptoms that are improving," the CDC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus infection rate remained low in Israel and currently stands at 0.58%, according to Health Ministry data published on Thursday morning. Of the 98,172 Israelis screened in the past 24 hours, 526 tested positive.

There are 5,584 active cases in the country with 151 patients hospitalized. Of those, 116 are in serious condition.
Israel has reported 1,344,472 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, including 8,199 deaths.

Thus far, 4,086,805 Israelis over the age of 16 have gotten fully vaccinated, 5,778,068 received the second jab and 6,345,114 got their first doses.

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However, while the coronavirus seems to be under control in Israel, South Africa, where Omicron was first detected, reports a much different situation.

Preliminary data from health officials showed that the number of new cases almost doubled every day in the last few days. Although it is not yet clear whether the new strain is responsible for the alarming increase, experts estimate that two-thirds of new cases are indeed Omicron.

Another troubling development is the increase in infection rate among children. According to data from the South African Health Ministry, 10% of hospitalized are children under the age of two, a number much higher compared to other parts of the world.

"Young children appear to be at a greater risk due to the new variant," a South African Health Ministry official said. Until now, the majority of those hospitalized were adults. But during the [morbidity] outbreak in Tswana, we see that the largest age group are children under the age of two.

Tswana, near Johanessburg, has turned into a hot stop of Omicron infections seemingly due to a low number of vaccinated residents.

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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Children's health support network Chai Lifeline will be distributing more than 50,000 gifts to sick children and their families across the United States and the world this Hanukkah season.

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The organization, which provides emotional and financial assistance to children with life-threatening and lifelong illnesses, works to customize each holiday gift. Choices are made based on specific parameters the drive organizers take into account, including age and specific likes, abilities and hobbies.

"The past year has been dark and challenging for so many families, especially those who have the added difficulties of caring for a child with serious illness," said Rabbi Simcha Scholar, CEO of Chai Lifeline.

"Our volunteers and donors are dedicated to bringing light and happiness back into the lives of these children and their siblings, and Chai Lifeline is honored to be a part of their Hanukkah joy."

Donors supporting the effort can purchase a gift from a Chai Lifeline Amazon wish list and have the item delivered directly to the central packing warehouse in Brooklyn, NY., where volunteers curate, wrap, label and deliver each family's gifts. Recognizing the wide reach of Chai Lifeline, Amazon has designated the organization as one of its top-performing charities of the week.

Donors can also choose to "adopt a family" and purchase suggested holiday gifts for that family anonymously. Local schools, synagogues and community organizations are also hosting toy drives and drop-off locations for gift donations, fostering giving to community members of all ages.

"Seeing the overwhelming response from people around the corner and the world to help fulfill the wishes of these special children is truly beyond words," said Chani Traube, volunteer coordinator of the annual Honey Engel Toy Drive at Chai Lifeline. "The 'thank you' notes and pictures of the smiling children make all of the work and hours put into this experience so worthwhile."

Click here to donate  

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Following the launch of Israel's campaign to vaccinate children against coronavirus, one of the most influential rabbis in Haredi circles called on parents Thursday to vaccinate their children.

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Senior health officials arrived at Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky's residence in Bnei Brak to discuss vaccine safety and ways to encourage vaccination among ultra-Orthodox children.

Among those who attended the meeting were Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka, expert epidemiologist Professor Ran Balicer, and Kanievsky's personal physician, Dr. Meshulam Hart.

Zarka presented Kanievsky with the Food and Drug Administration approval for the children's vaccine, as well as data on efficacy and safety. He also stressed that the Health Ministry had recently reported a rise in coronavirus morbidity, with unvaccinated children comprising most of the new cases.

Balicer, who is director of Health Policy Planning at Clalit Health Fund, demonstrated post-vaccination data on millions of children in the United States and recent studies conducted in Israel and worldwide on the safety of children's vaccines, that showed that the risks of getting infected with the virus outweighed the potential side effects of inoculation.

Hart also spoke out in support of the shots.

Having carefully studied the data, Kanievsky ruled that children ages of five-11 should be vaccinated, and wished experts success in the national campaign.

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The coronavirus infection rate stands at 0.73% in Israel, according to Health Ministry data published Thursday morning. Of the 88,751 Israelis screened for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 605 tested positive.

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There are currently 6,606 active cases in the country, with 170 patients hospitalized. Of those, 122 are in serious condition.

The reproduction rate decreased from 1.09 to 1.08 on Wednesday.

Israel has reported 1,340,481 cases, including 8,180 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Thus far, 4,058,317 Israelis over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated, 5,768,957 received two jabs and 6,278,664 got their first dose.

Since the launch of the children's vaccination campaign on Tuesday, 12,300 kids ages 5-11 got inoculated with the first dose, of the 1.2 million children eligible.

Meanwhile, researchers identified a new coronavirus variant with an "extremely high" number of mutations and ability to evade vaccines, according to a report by British daily i.

The B.1.1.529 strain was first spotted in Botswana, southern Africa. It has since been reported in South Africa and Hong Kong. It was exported from South Africa to Hong Kong by a tourist. Altogether, 10 cases in these three countries have been confirmed.

The variant has 32 spike mutations. In contrast, the Delta mutation, which is now dominant in the world, has 16. Spike mutations is what allows the virus to become more transmissible, evade antibodies and become more deadly.

B.1.1.529 was identified on Tuesday by Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, who described the mutation profile as "really awful" and "horrific."

Nevertheless, it is unknown whether B.1.1.529 could beat Delta's dominance.

Meanwhile, a drug made by Israeli biotechnology company Bonus BioGroup showed impressive results in Phase 2 clinical trials with a patient survival rate of 94%. 

According to data released this week, 47 out of 50 patients hospitalized in serious condition who received up to three doses of the company's cell therapy MesenCure survived.

The trial was conducted at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, as well as the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot and the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias. 

The treatment was also found to shorten hospital stays by eight days. Bonus BioGroup is seeking emergency use authorization for the drug in Israel and is continuing the Phase 3 clinical trials.

"We hope that after we get the approval in Israel, it will be accepted more easily in the United States and Europe," Dr. Tomer Bronshtein, head of research at Bonus BioGroup, told Fox News.

In related news, following a Coronavirus Cabined decision, tourists traveling to Israel will now be able to board flights by presenting an antigen test taken within 72 hours before departure, in addition to the previous measure of taking a PCR test 24 hours before the flight.

The obligation to take a PCR test upon arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport remains intact.

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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The coronavirus reproduction rate continued to rise in the past 24 hours and currently stands at 1.09, according to Health Ministry data published Wednesday. Of the 88,514 Israelis that were screened for the virus on Tuesday, 603 (0.74%) tested positive.

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There are currently 6,505 active cases in the country with 174 patients hospitalized. Of those, 124 are in serious condition.

Thus far, 4,056,586 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,768,276 received two doses and 6,276,292 got their first jabs.

Israel has reported 1,340,320 coronavirus cases, including 8,178 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accompanied his son David as he received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine today.

"I call on all Israeli parents to come and have their children vaccinated. It is safe and it safeguards our children."https://t.co/aiFv5ylXhr pic.twitter.com/NRAQ1NcFSh

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 23, 2021

Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accompanied his nine-year-old son David to the Clalit Health Services clinic in Herzliya to receive his first vaccination dose, as Israel launched a national vaccination campaign in the morning for children between the ages of 5 and 11.

We have begun a nationwide campaign to vaccinate children in order to protect them. This safeguards both parents and children, and all of Israel. I call on all parents to have their children inoculated, Bennett said.

Speaking at a Coronavirus Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the ministry's Director of Public Health Services Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss also encouraged parents to vaccinate their children.

"More than 3 million children [aged 12-15] have already been vaccinated and there were no reports of side effects. The risk of getting infected is much higher than getting vaccinated," she said.

Elroi Preiss also pointed out that "a small percentage of children" also develop the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS).

"It is a severe syndrome that appears a few weeks after the child recovers from the virus. Loss of taste is evidence of an effect on the brain, and there is evidence that the coronavirus enters the brain and affects it."

Despite the rising morbidity rate, the committee decided not to reimpose restrictions on public life. Nevertheless, it extended the "green pass" vaccine certificate mandate for indoor gatherings for another two weeks.

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Health officials expressed concern Monday after the coronavirus reproduction rate rose to 1.08, signaling a spread of the disease in the country. 

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The Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning that of the 99,554 Israelis it screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 682 (0.74%) tested positive. There are currently 5,904 active cases in the country with 172 patients hospitalized. Of those, 128 are in critical condition.

Thus far, 4,052,354 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,766,304 received their third jabs and 6,267,456 got inoculated with one dose.

Israel has reported 1,341,305 COVID cases, including 8,177 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March, 2020.

Officials contributed the alarming rise in the reproduction rate to the raging morbidity rate in Europe. 

"The only thing that worries me at the moment is entries from abroad," Gili Regev-Yochay, director of Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, said. "Unvaccinated people also enter [Israel], and that can cause an outbreak."

Just last week, the government convened to discuss adding several European countries with high morbidity rates onto its no-fly list but decided against it.

Regev-Yochay said the potential to get infected existed no matter what country in the world one traveled to and called on all Israelis to exhibit caution. 

Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash also called the rise in the reproduction rate "worrisome," but did not think it meant that another infection wave was beginning in Israel.

When asked about the possibility of a fourth jab, he said: "We do not see signs of a decline in vaccine efficacy, so there are no preparations. We are creating the option of purchasing more vaccines in case of a decline, and that is our agreement with the vaccine manufacturer. But at the moment, there is no actual preparation" for such a campaign.

Ash called on all those eligible to get vaccinated with the booster shot.

Also on Tuesday, the ministry launched the national vaccination campaign for children ages 5-11.

"This vaccine protects children and there is no excuse to expose them to the disease," Health Ministry Nitzan Horowitz said during a visit to a vaccination site in honor of the launch.

"The doses are safe and received all the necessary approvals both in the United States and here in Israel. We recommend everyone to get vaccinated to protect themselves and also to prevent infecting others. Right now, the majority of those verified are children, and if we vaccinate them, we can stop the current wave," he said.

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Meanwhile, the results of a Pfizer vaccine study showed on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine remained 100% effective four months after the second dose in children ages 12-15.

The pharmaceutical giant said that the research, which involved 2,228 trial participants, will help support its applications for full approval in the United States and worldwide.

No serious safety concerns were observed in individuals with at least six months of follow-up after the second dose. Efficacy was consistently high across gender, race, obesity levels, and comorbidity status.

"As the global health community works to increase the number of vaccinated people around the world, these additional data provide further confidence in our vaccine's safety and effectiveness profile in adolescents," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.

"This is especially important as we see rates of COVID-19 climbing in this age group in some regions, while vaccine uptake has slowed. We look forward to sharing these data with the FDA and other regulators," he said.

In May of this year, the Food and Drug Administration granted the vaccine "emergency use authorization" for adolescents, and Pfizer has since sought full approval. The vaccine is currently only fully approved in people aged 16 and older.

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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The coronavirus infection rate remained low over the weekend (0.72%) with 220 Israelis testing positive for the virus of the 34,339 screened altogether, according to Health Ministry data. The reproduction rate stands at 0.88.

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There are 5,843 active cases in the country with 205 patients hospitalized. Of those, 156 are in serious condition.

Thus far, 4,016,195 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,752,941 received two jabs and 6,256,219 got inoculated with one dose.

Israel has reported 1,337,041 cases, including 8,140 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka said the national children's vaccination campaign would begin next week and that Israel was awaiting a shipment of Pfizer's special kids' doses – which are just a third of the amount given to teens and adults.

Last week, a ministry advisory committee had endorsed Pfizer's inoculations for ages 5-11, which according to Zarka, Director-General Nachman Ash is expected to approve on Sunday.

Ash had previously assured parents of the doses' safety and stressed that "anyone who gets vaccinated reduces the chance of a fifth [morbidity] wave erupting. It is not right to wait for an increase in infection, we do not know when this will happen and vaccines need time to work. Even now, 200 children get infected every day, and we want to prevent that."

The kids' doses have already been authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With regard to possible future infection waves, Zarka said the ministry was keeping a close watch on other strains across the world.

"It would be difficult to prevent a variant from invading Israel, but we very much want to identify it early and therefore we are keeping our fingers on the pulse," he said.

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