(JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects Israel’s current vaccination campaign to reach its successful completion by the end of March/beginning April. “Then, vaccines for children will start arriving,” Netanyahu told Israel Hayom. “I assume that [regulators] will approve them in April and May, and we will get them immediately afterward,” he said, adding that Israel is already in talks about this phase with the two major manufacturers.

Currently, the vaccines being used in Israel are only approved for those 16 or older. But the international scientific community expects that age to be lowered in the coming months as more studies are conducted. “The vaccines [for children] may be a special version, or the same one [used for adults]. There will also be doses that target the evolving mutations. The talks we are holding are on the supply of tens of millions of doses,” he said, adding that there is a good chance Israeli children will be inoculated by summer.

Netanyahu said that masks will continue being part of our lives for a significant amount of time because of the phased vaccination drive. “We are living in the age of a virus, and I have made sure that Israel leads the world in this vaccination effort, not just in the purchase of doses, but also in trying to make Israel a place for producing them. I am in touch with the CEOs of the two vaccine manufacturers [currently being used], Pfizer and Moderna. I want Israel to be a critical point in the supply chain.”

Main Photo: Fifth-grade Israeli students return to the Alomot elementary school in Efrat after weeks of remote learning, Feb. 21, 2021. Photo by Gershon Elinson/Flash90.