The Israeli Ministry of Health admits: only 0.2 percent of infants and toddlers in Israel received the Covid-19 vaccine

More than anything else, this zero percentage indicates the collapse of public trust in the MOH after three years of managing the Covid crisis

Only 1,932 infants and toddlers have received the Covid-19 vaccine so far, the Ministry of Health said yesterday. The figure was provided in response to a request forwarded by Real Time magazine (Zman Emet) to questions regarding the vaccination of infants and toddlers. This, following recent media publications, according to which the Ministry of Health intends to destroy thousands of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines for infants and toddlers aged 6 months to 5 years at a cost of millions, after only 17 children of these ages have been vaccinated since February.

1,932 out of 750,000 children in this age group in Israel are about 0.2% - a zero percentage, that first and foremost indicates the collapse of public trust of the MOH at the end of three years of managing the Covid-19 crisis.

Surprisingly, this important figure - the number of babies and toddlers who received the Covid-19 vaccine, does not appear in the Ministry of Health's Covid data dashboard. This, despite the fact that the dashboard includes data on the vaccination of the population by age segmentation - but only from the age of five and above. Why does the Ministry of Health hide it from the parents?

From the Ministry of Health's response, it is not possible to know what motivated the parents who did vaccinate their children, and whether perhaps a large part of the vaccinations were given within institutions or hospitalization, or within the Ministry's recommendations to vaccinate children who are defined as having a high risk.

Why is the amount of vaccine doses destroyed a "commercial secret"?

The answer about the number of children vaccinated was the only one on which the Ministry of Health agreed to respond on, out of seven questions forwarded to them.

These questions were:

1. How many Covid-19 vaccines were purchased by the Ministry of Health for these ages?

2. How many vaccines for these ages were purchased from Pfizer, and how many from Moderna?

3. What was the total cost of vaccines for children of these ages, and what was the cost for each of the companies?

4. How many children between the ages of six months and five have received the vaccine to date?

5. When did the Ministry of Health contract with each of the companies to purchase the vaccines for children? Please attach the relevant agreements.

6. Exactly how many vaccine doses were destroyed due to the fact that they expired?

7. Were Pfizer vaccine doses also destroyed, or only Moderna? If only Moderna vaccines were destroyed, why weren't the Pfizer vaccine doses also destroyed, since it is likely that the vaccines from both companies were purchased at the same time?

Why did the ministry not respond to the remaining six questions? As can be seen in their response attached below - the ministry spokesperson's answer: "due to commercial confidentiality".

In what way, for example, does the amount of vaccine doses that were destroyed constitute a " commercial secret"? Why is the question about the expiry date a "commercial secret? "

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Health continues its policy of concealment and non-transparency to the public, and prefers to protect the economic interests of commercial companies that it is supposed to monitor, over the interests of public health that it is supposed to guard.