Covid-19: Israel launches testing campaign for children from three years old

Published on : 08/23/2021 – 09:29

Despite the increase in the number of infections in the country linked to the Delta variant, the Israeli government wants to avoid postponing the start of the school year, scheduled for September 1. Israel therefore launched a campaign of serological tests, Sunday, August 22, aimed at children aged between 3 and 12 years, while the vaccination of children over 12 years has already started.

According to the Ministry of Education, these tests will allow us to study the antibodies developed by these children if they have already been contaminated. Those who have developed enough antibodies will not be forced to isolate themselves if exposed to an infected person, limiting problems in schools.

In a statement released on Sunday, Jerusalem mayor Moshe Leon called on parents to present their children to the free 15-minute finger-prick test. This testing campaign is being carried out jointly by the ministries of health and education and the Israeli army, which confirmed to AFP that the operation had started.

A pilot program in the ultra-Orthodox community last week found that about one in five children had developed antibodies. At a testing center in the coastal town of Netahya, Zohar was pleasantly surprised to learn that her son had already contracted Covid-19.

“The results showed that my son has antibodies, apparently he was sick,” she told AFP. “This means that he will get a green pass and that he will be able to go to school without risk,” she said.

However, Zohar’s younger daughter does not have any antibodies and therefore will not have a pass. Last month, the director general of the education ministry, Yigal Slovik, claimed that school closures last year had caused “social and emotional damage” to students, with “a 44% increase in risk suicide “.

In total, more than 970,000 contaminations have been officially recorded in Israel, including more than 6,700 deaths. More than 5.4 million people received two doses of the vaccine, 58% of the population, and some 1.2 million a third. The country was one of the first to launch, from mid-December 2020, a vast vaccination campaign that drastically reduced infections.

However, contamination has started to rise again in recent weeks with the spread of the Delta variant in unvaccinated adults but also in people who received their doses more than six months ago.

With AFP