Israel vaccinated its four millionth citizen on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion joining Theodore Slazzen for a photo op at a Leumit Health services clinic in Jerusalem. Over 2.7 million Israelis have been fully vaccinated with both doses of the vaccine. “I want to appeal the 570,000 people over 50 who haven’t yet been vaccinated,” Netanyahu said after Slazzen was vaccinated. ” Almost 100% of fatalities and severe cases are in this group.

Israel’s Health Ministry published new data on coronavirus morbidity in children on Tuesday, A total of 1,787 children under the age of 18 have been hospitalized since the start of the pandemic, and 100 children were seriously ill. Nine children passed away due to the virus. A majority of the pediatric coronavirus cases, 1,021, were in children younger than four. There are currently seven children hospitalized in serious condition, of whom three are ventilated. In recent weeks, there has been a spike in the number of young adults seriously ill with the coronavirus. There are currently at least 32 Israelis under the age of 30 in serious condition due to the virus, of whom 11 are ventilated. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A rare winter storm that dumped a foot of snow on Seattle couldn’t keep a 90-year-old woman from her first appointment for the coronavirus vaccine. The Seattle Times reports that Fran Goldman walked six miles to get her shot. “I have been calling to get an appointment anywhere, every morning, every afternoon and often I’ve been online at night,” Goldman said. She finally secured a slot for Sunday morning, but Friday and Saturday a strong winter storm moved through the region, turning the city’s normally rainy streets into a winter scene of snowdrifts. Goldman dressed in fleece pants and a short-sleeved shirt so that the nurse could get to her arm easily. Over that, she layered a fleece zip-up, then a down coat, then a rain jacket.

Israel has decided not to send a delegation of defense companies to a prestigious arms fair in the United Arab Emirates next week due to coronavirus restrictions that have forced the closure of Israel’s international airport, the Defense Ministry announced Monday. Dozens of Israeli companies, including state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, had planned on sending delegations to the IDEX arms fair. It was to mark the first time Israel has participated in the gathering, a result of last year’s U.S.-brokered agreement establishing ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

At least 30 Israeli children are currently hospitalized due to post-COVID-19 syndrome (also known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), news reports said on Tuesday. Three young children are seriously ill and a 14-year-old boy is critically ill, according to a Kan News report. Doctors are warning parents to be on the alert for symptoms of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), including high fever, a rash on the hands or feet, red eyes, and a red or swollen tongue. A senior doctor in the pediatric ICU at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, Dr. Shir Malach, told Kan that post-COVID-19 syndrome has been appearing in children with no pre-existing health issues.

A 49-year-old woman ill with COVID-19 who had no preexisting health conditions collapsed and died in the emergency room of Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer on Sunday. Doctors performed resuscitation techniques for a prolonged period of time but ultimately were forced to declare her death. The doctors believe that she relied on home treatment for too long, arriving too late at the emergency room for doctors to stabilize her, according to a report by Channel 13. Sheba Hospital recently increased the number of beds in its coronavirus ICU by 50% but was able to close two regular coronavirus wards on Sunday due to the decrease in infections in recent days. Israel’s reproduction number continues to decrease, standing at 0.82 on Tuesday, the lowest in three months.

HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yehudah Yaroslavsky, the Av Beis Din of the Chabad Beis Din in Israel, announced on Tuesday that only those who have been vaccinated or have recovered from the coronavirus will be allowed into Chabad shuls. In a letter published on Tuesday, the Rav wrote that anyone who hasn’t yet been vaccinated and doesn’t have documentation that they recovered from the coronavirus must continue davening only in outside minyanim and it’s forbidden for them to enter regular shuls. “Everyone is obligated to be vaccinated and no one should chalilah take this lightly,” the Rav wrote. In response to the many questions he received on the matter, HaRav Yaroslavsky responded sharply: “The necessity to be vaccinated is not optional but obligatory according to the Torah.

The decision of Israel’s coronavirus cabinet to reopen the economy on Sunday was approved despite the objections of senior health officials, including coronavirus czar Prof. Nachman Ash, who told ministers on Monday that if anyone had told him two months ago that the economy would be reopening when the infection rate and the number of seriously ill patients are so high, he would have called them crazy. “An irresponsible opening of the economy will lead to another lockdown,” Ash warned. “By next week, we’ll have vaccinated three million people but that is only a third [of Israel’s population] – far from herd immunity.” Prof.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has won the $1 million Dan David Prize for “defending science” and advocating for vaccines now being administered worldwide to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The Israel-based Dan David Foundation on Monday named President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser as the winner of one of three prizes. It said he had earned the recognition over a lifetime of leadership on HIV research and AIDS relief, as well as his advocacy for the vaccines against COVID-19. In its statement, the private foundation did not mention former President Donald Trump, who undermined Fauci’s follow-the-science approach to the pandemic.

A 29-year-old mother in Israel gave birth to a stillborn after contracting the coronavirus, with doctors saying the fetus was confirmed to have contracted the virus and died as a result. This is the first case of a stillborn that was attributed solely to the coronavirus since tests previously performed during the pregnancy showed that the fetus was healthy. The woman, a resident of southern Israel who was 25 weeks pregnant, went to her doctor after noticing a lack of fetal movement. The doctor ordered her to be transferred immediately to Assuta Hospital in Ashdod, where her baby was delivered stillborn. It was the woman’s third pregnancy and tests showed that everything was normal until that point.