Coronavirus in Israel: Some foreign yeshiva students getting vaccines
According to the Health Ministry, only Israeli citizens can get the vaccine.
By JEREMY SHARONSTUDENTS STUDY in separation compartments at the Kamenitz Yeshiva in Jerusalem in September to prevent the spread of COVID-19.(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH 90)
Some foreign yeshiva students studying in Israel have been able to obtain COVID-19 vaccines, The Jerusalem Post has learned.There are some 12,000 yeshiva and seminary students from the Diaspora who were given permission to enter the country for the new academic year in August 2020.There have been severe outbreaks of COVID-19 in some yeshivas and seminaries, both in the ultra-Orthodox and religious-Zionist sectors, despite the use of capsule systems designed to stop the rapid spread of the disease among the student population.In some institutions, students are encouraged to sign up and pay for membership in a Health Maintenance Organization entitling them to health services in the country.Although currently the minimum age to receive a vaccination is 35, some foreign yeshiva students who are signed up to an HMO have queued up at vaccination centers at the end of the day to receive left over vaccine doses.Because the Pfizer vaccine in use in Israel must be stored at extremely cold temperatures and must be used within a short period of time after being removed from storage, HMO vaccination centers give left over vaccine doses at the end of the day to those who have waited to receive one.There is no age restriction for the use of these leftover vaccines.The Post understands that some foreign students at the renowned Ponovizeh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak have obtained vaccines in this manner.Students at a religious-Zionist yeshiva in Jerusalem are also thought to have received vaccines by queuing up, although the Post was unable to confirm this by time of press.Despite these reports, the Health Ministry said that only Israeli citizens are currently able to get the COVID-19 vaccines.
