Defense Minister Benny Gantz (blue and white) will propose enabling IDF Medics who are assisting with the COVID vaccination effort to aid the flu effort at a government meeting on Sunday. Gantz’s initiative is part of a larger campaign by the Ministry of Health to increase the number of people receiving the flu shot, to reduce the hospital workload in the winter.
“The entire defense system and the IDF will continue to assist in all national efforts to mitigate COVID and protect Israel’s economy and social fabric,” Gantz said. “Any location where IDF’s operational capabilities can provide solutions, idf for citizens of Israel in general and with full cooperation with the health system in all specialized institutions.”
The decision will mean that the approximately 900 IDF paramedics currently deployed at the HMO will be asked to assist in both vaccination efforts simultaneously.
Seasonal influenza is expected to reach exceptionally high levels this year, health officials said, as the annual flu vaccination campaign was launched earlier this month. The virus is expected to arrive in early November, posing a risk to the country’s health system which is already struggling. Under the burden of some 400 critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Health workers prepare a Covid-19 vaccine at a temporary Clalit health care center in Jerusalem on September 30, 2021. (credit: Jonathan Sindel/Flash90)The flu (influenza) is one of the most common and highly contagious winter viruses. Similar to the coronavirus, it is mainly spread from person to person by droplets released when people cough, sneeze or even talk.