Israel urges vaccination for teenagers aged 12-15 due to COVID-19 variants

The Israeli Ministry of Health on Monday announced that it "strongly recommends" that teenagers aged 12 to 15 be vaccinated against coronavirus.

The decision was made following a rise in coronavirus morbidity among children in recent days, mainly in schools in the central city of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut and in the town of Binyamina, caused by several variants.

The ministry noted that the side effects caused by the vaccine are rare and non-serious.

On June 6, Israel started vaccinating teenagers aged between 12 and 15, but until now there has been no recommendation to do so.

The vaccination campaign in Israel began on December 20, 2020, with the first phase targeting medical staff, people aged over 65, and chronic patients. Since then, the age of eligibility has been gradually lowered.

To date, Israel has vaccinated nearly 5.5 million people against coronavirus, or 59 per cent of its population.

As a result of the recent outbreak, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Israel reached 387 on Monday, compared to 186 reported on June 9.