Vaccinating soldiers
Vaccinating soldiersIDF spokesperson

The IDF has noted a rise in the number of serious coronavirus cases among soldiers, the IDF's chief medical officer, Brigadier General Professor Alon Glazberg, wrote in a letter.

The document, published on February 17, gave examples of soldiers seriously ill with coronavirus and emphasized the importance of the coronavirus vaccine.

The letter, published Wednesday morning in Israel Hayom, read: "Most of those serving in the IDF are young and healthy, and luckily, in the previous waves, only very few of them developed significant illness. However, it is important for us to share with you that we have identified a change in the trend. In the past few weeks, we are dealing with several IDF soldiers who are seriously ill, who required respiratory support and even hospitalization in the intensive care unit."

These changes, the letter said, show that the percentage of young people becoming ill with coronavirus is increasing, as well as their representation in the intensive care units.

The letter brought examples of soldiers who recently became seriously ill with coronavirus, including a healthy 25-year-old career soldier who contracted coronavirus and became seriously ill, requiring oxygen and significant treatment with medications. He later recovered from the virus.

Other examples were a pregnant female career soldier, who became seriously ill after contracting coronavirus, requiring oxygen support; and a 19-year-old soldier who suffered complications of coronavirus a month after contracting it. She was placed in the intensive care unit and fought for her life.

"Unfortunately, there are other cases as well," the letter continued. "The common denominator among all of them is that they all occurred in soldiers who had not been vaccinated."

"Other than reducing the chance of serious illness, more and more testimonies are showing that the vaccine reduces the chance of transmission."

As of Tuesday, 728 IDF soldiers were infected with coronavirus, and 4,295 were in quarantine. At the same time, 67% of IDF soldiers were vaccinated against coronavirus, and the IDF hopes that by the end of this week, the number will have risen to 84%.