Vaccines on Shabbat? This is the position of Chief Rabbi David Lau
Chief Rabbi says permission to vaccinate in Shabbat will be considered when vaccinations are given in all hours of the day during the week.
(Of course, there needs to be a justification for Lau to keep his job. He is not smart enough to realize that the person getting vaccinated this Shabbat, could save his life in 2-3 months from now) PM
The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau, on Thursday evening published his position regarding the administration of coronavirus vaccines on Shabbat.
"The Chief Rabbi of Israel considers it very important to provide vaccines to the general public and even got vaccinated in public in order to encourage the public to get vaccinated," said a statement from Rabbi Lau's office.
The rabbi determined that as long as there are vaccinations during all hours of the day and night during the week, which in practice indicates an urgency to vaccinate as quickly as possible, it will be possible to consider allowing vaccinations on Shabbat as well.
However, at this stage, when vaccinations are not performed at all hours of the day and night during weekdays, there is no permit to do so on Shabbat, said the rabbi.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein instructed the Director-General of his ministry to work to provide vaccines 24/7, recruit manpower for this purpose, and reach a rate of more than 100,000 vaccines per day.
"The State of Israel is in a health campaign that has not been the same since the establishment of the state. In recent days mutations have been identified that infect at a rapid and unusual rate that we have not yet encountered and we are in a race against time.
The more civilians we vaccinate and the faster we do so, the more lives we will save," Edelstein said. "The coronavirus endangers us all, the vaccines will save us all. There is no greater Pikuach Nefesh than this."