Pharma giants Merck and Pfizer announce encouraging results for oral drugs that largely prevent serious forms of the illness, and hospitalization

Ministry looking to evaluate new medication, but concerned news of highly effective coronavirus treatment could undermine vaccine and booster shot efforts

PM tells cabinet he instructed health officials 'to study the matter in depth,' as dozens of countries already in discussions with drugmaker over highly effective medication

Health Ministry expects to begin negotiations soon; US drugmaker touts preliminary results indicating effectiveness of antiviral treatment, will seek approval from FDA

Health correspondent Nathan Jeffay on COVID shots for kids 5-11; senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur on coalition infighting; and Raoul Wootliff on a new stage in the Netanyahu trial

Coronavirus morbidity in Israel continues to decline, with positivity rate hitting a four-month low and serious cases dropping

Vaccine for young children still requires approval from FDA itself, as well as the CDC; experts believe vaccine’s benefits age group outweigh any potential risks

If US regulator okays vaccines for younger children, Israel is widely expected to follow suit with its own approval process; health officials say shots could start within weeks

Virus czar: Israeli kids to start getting inoculated after US counterparts, parents must 'protect their children'; Health chief Ash: Government go-ahead may come 'in several weeks'

US says benefit outweighs any risk, no unexpected side effects; panel to vote Tuesday before decision made on authorization; Israel said planning to inoculate kids from December