Israel starts Covid vaccines for kids aged 5 to 11 amid 'children wave' fears

Israel has begun vaccinating children between the age of 5 and 11 against Covid-19. It has become one of the handful countries to inoculate children so young as it seeks to ward off another pandemic wave.

Israel experienced an upsurge in coronavirus infections over the summer, fuelled by the Delta variant. Tel Aviv launched one of the earliest campaigns for booster shots amid a Covid surge.

As infections start to rise again, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said the country is experiencing a "children's wave" with about half of the recently confirmed cases among children below the age of 11.

Authorities had already begun immunising those aged 12 to 17 but have now decided to lower the age threshold for the vaccines.

While the campaign for younger minors was set to officially start Tuesday, doses were already being administered by Monday night, news agency AFP has reported.

Israel was one of the first countries to launch vaccines against the coronavirus last year. More than 5.7 million of the country's nine million people are now fully vaccinated.