ByMAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Hadassah-University Medical Center said it will be forced to close its vaccination clinic on Monday morning without inoculating as many as 40% of its staff of about 6,000 people.
According to Prof. Zeev Rotstein, the hospital has no more vaccines and the Health Ministry will not commit to providing additional vials for the first dose, since it made a decision last week not to allow hospitals to continue vaccinating medical staff and rather to move all vaccination to the health funds. That's because more people came out to vaccinate than originally expected.

The ministry told hospitals that they should complete inoculating medical personnel by the end of this week and, like the health funds, should then begin next week to vaccinate people waiting to receive their second doses.

In the meantime, Israel is waiting to get additional vaccines doses from Pfizer and potentially first doses from Moderna.

According to a Hadassah spokesperson, many of the staff were in isolation during the first weeks of vaccination and the hospital had to use the vaccines before they spoiled and became ineffective, by vaccinating members of the community.

Rotstein said that his staff will now be forced to receive their vaccinations at their local health funds, assuming they can still register for appointments.

"I don't have enough vaccines and my hospital is full of coronavirus," Rotstein said. "I need to protect my staff." 

A report Sunday morning showed that Hadassah had 108 patients, including 53 in serious condition.

The Jerusalem Post contacted several other hospitals, all of which said they were not in a similar predicament. Some accused Hadassah of not following protocol and therefore landing itself in this situation.

For example, Galilee Medical Center said that they have vaccinated some 70% of their staff, as well as a small number of staff members at area hospitals and some volunteers of emergency response teams.

A spokesperson for Galilee Medical Center said that they have about 600 or 700 doses remaining and they will be used this week. After they are used, the hospital will begin administering second doses.

Rambam Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center expressed similar sentiments.

“We have enough through Monday evening,” a Rambam spokesperson told the Post but he said he was unsure about future shipments.

“Starting next week, we will begin giving the second dose,” said Sheba Medical Center Deputy Director-General Arnon Afek. “Our staff will complete vaccination through the weekend.”

He said the hospital reached its goal of vaccinating about 7,000 out of 9,000 people working there, in addition to the around 600 who already had the virus and did not require inoculation.

The hospital has also vaccinated residents of the area’s geriatric and psychiatric hospitals, as per Health Ministry regulations and requests.