Israel’s vaccination plan for young children falls flat

Israel rolled out its COVID-19 vaccination program for children aged 5-11 in November with calls for every child in that age group to initially receive two doses of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine. 

Heavily promoted

Beneficial 

Citizens were encouraged to comply with the government recommendation with the promise of a vaccine passport (Green Pass in Israel) for the children, providing access to large entertainment events and an end to the need to regularly test for COVID-19.

Effective 

Pfizer claimed, on the very day of Israel’s vaccine rollout for 5-11 year-olds, that their “Covid-19 vaccine remained 100 percent effective in children 12 to 15 years old, four months after the second dose.”

Safe

Israelis were also promised the vaccine was safe, with the earlier publication of the results of a trial in which,

“some 500 children in Israel aged 5-11 have received a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Thus far, no abnormal side effects have been documented [in the vaccinations given] under special approval from the Health Ministry, mainly to children suffering from significant prior conditions …”

Experts in favor of 100% vaccine coverage

With the publication of those results, Professor Masad Barhoum, General Director of the Galilee Medical Center, predicted,

“In my estimation, all children will be vaccinated in the future.”

Danger of delay

Israel’s Ministry of Health promoted the vaccination of young children with the launch of a taxpayer funded advertisement blitz as well as a 23 page brochure, entitled “Vaccinating for Life: The importance of corona vaccines in children, which sports a Pfizer logo on the front and back pages.” 

In the absence of the death of even one healthy child (i.e., pre-existing conditions) from COVID-19 in Israel, the ministry’s brochure warns, 

“Over 200 children in Israel were hospitalized with PIMS,” the newly identified Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome. There are no “specific blood tests to diagnose PIMS so the doctors look at the symptoms to work out if you have it.” 

Those symptoms include: a  rash, tiredness, weakness, abdominal pain, a headache, muscle aches, diarrhea, vomiting, swollen neck glands, swollen hands or feet and irritability, but only if they occur about 2-4 weeks after a positive COVID test in a teenager or child (otherwise it may be diagnosed as the previously known Kawasaki disease.

The brochure did not address the warning by Dr. Michael Yeadon, former chief scientist and vice-president of Pfizer's allergy and respiratory research division, in an interview with Real America’s Voice, that children are 50 times more likely to be killed by the Covid vaccines than by the virus itself.

Capacity

Israel's nationalized health care system vaccinated up to 235,000 residents a day in the initial rollout of the vaccine plan in January 2021. At that rate, Israel was prepared to vaccinate the entire population of some 1.2 million children aged 5 to 11 with a first dose within just 5 days.

First indications of failure

An opinion poll in Israel just before the November rollout of jabs for young children found that just “27% of parents would allow their children under the age of 12 to receive the vaccine, with 33% opposed and 40% undecided.”

Outright failure 

In actuality, the results were even worse. Effectively none of the 40% undecided parents were swayed by the government’s promotions of the vaccine for children and not even all of the 27% pro-jab parents brought  their kids for even the first shot. 

As seen in the below graph provided by the Israel Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard, less than ¼ of children aged 5 to 11 have been vaccinated with a first dose as of February 8, 2022, long after the five days that would have been required to vaccinate all children in that age group if they all wanted the shot. Only 17.1% of those children have received both doses.

Less doses than birthdays

And these percentages are not expected to rise much as the number of children taking the shot has tapered off drastically. After reaching as many as 11,000 first doses in one day in December, February has seen a high of 471 first doses, dropping to just 286 first doses on Monday, as seen in the Ministry of Health’s below graphic. 

Even assuming all of those first doses to be in children aged 5-11, that would be less than the number of children turning 5-years-old each day. Some 480 children are expected to celebrate their fifth birthday tomorrow in Israel. 

Sharp drop-off in vaccination rates

The lack of enthusiasm for vaccinating young children coincides with a steep dropoff of vaccination rates with each subsequent shot.

The below Israel Ministry of Health chart shows vaccination rates dropping from 72% for the first dose to under 48% for the third dose, which is required to be considered vaccinated and receive a vaccine passport. So the majority of Israelis are making do without a vaccine passport and the rate for the fourth shot (second booster) stands at about 7%.