Hard-hit by COVID, Israel’s ultra-Orthodox slow to get shots

By TIA GOLDENBERG
Associated Press

BNEI BRAK, Israel (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews have yet to receive their COVID-19 shots. The community has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country despite being pummeled by the virus throughout the pandemic. And now the new omicron variant has arrived. Officials scramble to ramp up vaccination rates in a population that’s so far been slow to roll up their sleeves. Israeli officials have appealed to the community’s prominent rabbis, who serve as arbiters on all matters, to promote vaccination. They are making vaccines as accessible as possible. And they are beating back a wave of lies about the vaccine that has washed over some of the community.