Posted on 08/02/21
| News Source: i24
Health maintenance organizations report hundreds of thousands of appointments scheduled for booster
Israel's health maintenance organizations reported high demand Sunday for the COVID-19 booster shot on the first day of the campaign to get the third vaccine dose into the arms of 1.5 million eligible adults over the age of 60 in just eight days.
Despite the strong start to the vaccination drive, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday evening pushed the country's four health funds to step up their efforts.
“The situation is good, but we have to pick up the pace,” Bennett told the heads of Maccabi, Meuhedet, Leumit and Clalit. “Our daily rate needs to be five times what it is now."
Added Bennett: "Our goal is to vaccinate everyone by the end of the month. It’s ambitious, but it’s possible.”
The heads of the HMOs told Bennett that there is a high level of demand to the point of phones crashing because so many eligible adults over 60 were calling to schedule appointments.
In order to get the booster, the second vaccine must have been administered more than five months ago.
According to Clalit, the country’s largest HMO, 17,000 eligible Israelis have already received a third dose and 110,000 have made an appointment for the coming days.