Top health official: Lockdown ‘an option,’ but could still be averted

The head of public health services in the Health Ministry, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Alreis, confirms additional shipments of COVID vaccines are en route to Israel.

In an interview with Channel 12, the senior health official says a nationwide lockdown in September, over the Jewish holidays, is not inevitable.

“It’s obviously an option, but it’s in our hands,” she says.

The current health rules, says Alroy-Preis, won’t drive down infection rates considerably but are meant to “buy time” for children and teenagers to get vaccinated and to inoculate those over 60 years old with a booster shot.

“Lockdown is not a strategy, it’s a tactic, a step that you try to avoid unless you really, really have to. Right now, we don’t have to. We need to run and get vaccinated,” she said.