Vaccination of the Elderly in Assisted Living by the Israeli Emergency Medical Services

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Israel was called on to vaccinate the most vulnerable population—the elderly in assisted living facilities and their caregivers. Two parameters led the operation: (1) maximum use of the scarce COVID-19 vaccine, and (2) minimizing the time it took to reach this entire population. We present the process of vaccinating 126 245 people in two weeks at 756 locations countrywide, focusing on the planning and logistics of this operation. Resilience, flexible logistics, and dedicated personnel provided an efficient public health operation.