Lema’anchem head to Edelstein: Let us vaccinate first

“We ask that you decide that preschools be given priorities for vaccination against coronavirus,” the Association of Private Preschools in Israel requested.

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Updated: DECEMBER 13, 2020 20:19
A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe, October 30, 2020. (photo credit: REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/FILE PHOTO)
A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe, October 30, 2020.
(photo credit: REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/FILE PHOTO)
The head of the patient support organization Lema’anchem has appealed to the Health Ministry to allow his personnel and volunteers to be among the first to be vaccinated.
In an impassioned letter to Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and other officials, the organization’s founder and director Rabbi Yossi Erblich wrote that his team has worked closely with Magen Israel in general and the ultra-Orthodox desk in particular during the crisis. Now, he said, allowing members of the organization to be among the first to be vaccinated will allow volunteers “to continue without any concern to carry out [their] critical activities during these times.”
The rabbi added that, “We were very excited, together with many other Israeli citizens, to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the arrival of vaccines in Israel” and that Lema’anchem wants to be vaccinated first “out of a desire and aspiration to set an example.”
Lema’anchem is not the first interest group or organization to appeal to the ministry for vaccination preference. Last week, on the day that the first vaccines arrived in the country, the Association of Private Preschools in Israel called on the Health Ministry to prioritize preschool teachers, too.
“We ask that you decide that preschools be given priorities for vaccination against coronavirus,” the association said in a statement. “Since the first closure about 2,500 preschools have been closed and many are struggling to survive. If the preschools are forced to close their gates again it means… forcing many parents to stay home with their children without a reasonable solution.”
The Health Ministry has said that medical personnel will be vaccinated first, followed by seniors and people with pre-existing and chronic medical conditions that could make them more susceptible to a serious case of COVID-19.