The effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against the Delta variant is "weaker" than health officials had hoped, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Friday, as over 1,000 people tested positive for coronavirus and more countries were added to the list of places to which Israelis will be banned from traveling.
"We do not know exactly to what degree the vaccine helps, but it is significantly less," Bennett said.
The prime minister held a meeting of top health officials and ministers to discuss the next steps for managing the virus in light of the numbers in Israel and what Bennett described as "the Delta mutation leaping forward around the world, including in vaccinated countries such as Britain, Israel and the US."
He said that in "Britain, in recent days, we have seen a jump in the number of children who are being hospitalized on a daily basis. This is a development that we are aware of; we are dealing with it rationally and responsibly."
With more than 5.7 million Israelis having received at least one shot of the Pfizer vaccine, the country continues to push for citizens – especially teenagers – to go out and get the jab.
The highest number of coronavirus cases in nearly four months was diagnosed on Friday – 1,118 people, according to the Health Ministry's Saturday night report. Of those screened, 1.58% tested positive. The reproduction rate (R), the number of people a sick person infects, stood at 1.37 – meaning that Covid-19 is spreading again.
Among those who tested positive was an adviser to Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana. They had not been together since July 12, so he was told he did not need to enter isolation. Nonetheless, the minister and his staff were asked to take a coronavirus test.
While the spike in daily cases continues, the increase in serious morbidity has risen in a more limited way. Of those infected, some 58 were in serious condition, according to the ministry – an increase of six people over the weekend.
In April, with around 6,500 active cases like now, there were 370 patients in serious conditions.
The likely explanation is that among current virus carriers, about 2,000 are schoolchildren, and half of them were fully vaccinated. Both groups are very unlikely to develop severe forms of the disease, even though it occasionally happens.
At the moment, around 60% of the patients in serious conditions have been vaccinated. Moreover, according to Hebrew University researchers who advise the government, around 90% of newly infected people over the age of 50 are fully vaccinated.