Israel’s mega-vaccination campaign is showing encouraging enough signs of effectiveness. The country is considering implementing a block exemption and starting a health “passport” in April.
Israel is set to engage in two chase races against the new coronavirus Covid-19. The first aims at universal vaccination to achieve universal mass immunization rates. It also benefited from the authorities’ early agreement with the laboratory and the mobilization of the cashier’s team of the Health Insurance Authority in a country of about 8 million inhabitants.
Unique worldwide, this experience also allowed Israel to openly share data on the vaccination results obtained in the country. In addition, this is part of an agreement between the State of Israel and Pfizer. The preliminary results are very encouraging. A survey of 135,000 vaccinees showed that a small percentage of healthy, protected vaccinees, about 0.05%, became ill and did not become truly immune until a few weeks later, when they were re-injected. Of the 20 patients identified who received the vaccine, none developed serious illness and therefore no one was hospitalized.
The only symptoms of discomfort among the vaccinees were headaches, coughing, and feeling tired. None of them had a fever of more than 38,5°C. Side effects were rare. Pregnant women and young people are also scheduled to be vaccinated. This forward movement gives Israeli society the feeling of seeing light at the end of the tunnel. But at the same Time, the news of the outbreak was not good. A month after the third blockade order was ordered, and two and a half weeks after the blockade was tightened, the daily number of confirmed cases has barely declined and continues to rise consistently. There are more than 8,000 new cases a day, and more than a thousand people are hospitalized in serious conditions. Schools are closed. The psychological and psychiatric consequences for the general public are difficult to estimate.
Long-term over-deployment
The number of seriously ill people is remaining stable, but it is important to note that vaccination campaigns protect more than 200,000 lives every day. Health authorities have administered BioNTech Pfizer’s vaccine to more than 2 million people, or a quarter of the country’s population. More than 70 percent of them are over the age of 60, as well as hospital workers. The success of the vaccination campaign is due to the small regional health organizations of the four national health insurance cashier groups that cover the entire population. These organizations are responsible for dealing with the kind of “lightning war” that happens so quickly. This organization, Clalit, is the oldest health insurance cashier organization established before the First World War, before the founding of Israel. Because of its history, Israel is a country that takes general mobilization for granted. Their leaders were very active.
They immediately managed to negotiate agreements with pharmaceutical laboratories before they could see any effect of the vaccine, without the problem of insufficient funding. Pfizer also got what it wanted, and the company had access to personal statistics.
Israel’s strategy was to stay ahead of the curve, and it began its first national blockade last spring, ahead of France. They prepared masks early, when in France they were still considered grotesque and heretical. Then, for the second time, Israel also resorted to collective isolation and more severe control. Like Asia or Algeria, Israel, which is like a small island, closed its borders. The airport in Tel Aviv, the main entrance to the country, was also closed. As for vaccinations, which have also become a national event, Israel’s ambition is to implement a health passport by April of this year that will allow the people to live a more free and open Life in a gradual manner.
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