The only person in the northern health clinic who keeps calm Jerusalem Monday morning was a 19-year-old military doctor. Dozens of people crowded in the narrow corridor leading to the vaccination booth, arguing over who should turn next. He smiled bitterly and looked at it, then sat back at his stall and prepared a syringe containing 0.3 ml of vaccine. Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Then he plunged his head into my shoulder.
“It’s actually a calm,” he said. “When the real chaos begins, you should be here an hour ago.” Perhaps for this soldier-who was seconded from his combat engineering battalion last week for desert exercises-sitting in the air-conditioned clinic all day is an improvement. But no one else is as calm as him.
Israel Is the first country to launch the second national vaccination campaign Coronavirus disease-19. This time, the jab happened in two ways. For people over 30, they received the first two injections at least five months ago, plus a third dose of “booster.” Before the start of the new school year next Wednesday, we will also work hard to vaccinate as many middle school students (over 12 years old) as possible.
However, although more than one million and a half Israelis have been vaccinated for the third time, the atmosphere is very different from when it was first launched. At that time, huge vaccination centers were opened in stadiums and city squares, and many people were overjoyed with the prospects. . Unlock, start singing and start dancing. Now, Covid cases are spiraling up again-the daily incidence has more than doubled in the past two weeks. The number of hospitalizations is also increasing. “I believe we are in a state of war,” Coronavirus Commissioner Professor Salman Zhaka told a parliamentary committee this month. Israel is pinning its hopes on the booster program.
It shouldn’t be like this. As early as March, Israel’s vaccination plan made the world envy. Facts have proved that the vaccine is effective against the third wave of Covid-19, mainly caused by the Kent variant, allowing the country to reopen. Happy Israelis, holding “Green Pass” vaccine passports on their smartphones, crowded restaurants and bars, and the vaccination center was dismantled. In March, the mask requirement was cancelled. Then comes the Delta variant. Now Israel finds itself becoming a test case for the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine program.
Public health experts are not surprised. They warned that it is impossible to predict whether the new vaccine will provide adequate protection for the new variants-the protection will diminish over time, perhaps within a few months. Although it may continue to provide important protection against the serious illness of Covid-19, it does not mean that the vaccinated person will not still be infected and spread the virus to other people.
And this is exactly what happened in spring. The first Israelis to be vaccinated in December (unlike the United Kingdom, Israel works in accordance with Pfizer’s agreement to provide two doses of vaccine at three-week intervals) are relatively mobile and wealthy citizens over 60 years of age. Blockade, many people fly abroad for vacation. As the vaccine began to weaken, some people became infected with the Delta variant when they returned home. Next, they infected their children and grandchildren, a highly contagious strain that swept the school a few weeks before the summer vacation.
This did not help. At that time, the government changed and the ministers looked away from the ball. This spring, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was immersed in the success of the first launch, which he attributed to his decision and the impact on large pharmaceutical companies, claiming that it allowed him to secure the vaccine ‘S early delivery.Then, in May, he was War in Gaza. Three weeks later, he was out and replaced by Naftali Bennett, who considered himself a coronavirus expert-part of his campaign for office was based on his manifesto “how to defeat the pandemic.” Bennett optimistically predicts that “we can beat Covid-19 in five weeks.” That was more than two months ago. Israel now has the second highest level of new cases per capita in the world. The coronavirus wards that were closed in April have all been reopened.
However, it is not all bad news. First, the vaccine is still effective. After six months, they are 42% effective against infections, but 80% effective against serious diseases. The mortality rate is only half of the previous wave. Although less than 20% of Israeli adults are not vaccinated, they account for half of hospital cases. Now that the government has provided the third dose, it has played a role in increasing the recipient’s resistance to infection.
Although the World Health Organization recommends waiting until countries that have hardly started to provide the first dose of vaccine can start their vaccination campaign, the government decided to use a booster.Israeli public health officials argue that because they are a small country, the booster dose will not affect global supply, and they are providing test cases for countries such as the following The UK will provide boosters in the coming monthsAs the first country to implement booster injections nationwide, Israel is conducting a grand experiment. Bennett insisted that despite the increase in the number of infections, the country will not enter the fourth blockade.
So far, vaccination has saved hospitals from overwhelming, and experts are cautiously optimistic that the high rate of use of the third vaccine will remain in this state. Currently, the school year is expected to start next week. Now, all enclosed spaces are once again mandatory to wear masks, and the goal is that all secondary schools receive at least 70% of the vaccine before students return. The rest will be vaccinated at school within a few days of the beginning of the semester.
In elementary schools that have not yet vaccinated children under the age of 12, the test will be conducted once a week. This is a gamble to reopen schools when Israel is still at its peak of infection-experts have calculated that one in every 100 Israelis is infected. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year of large family gatherings and public prayers, begins on September 7.
However, Professor Doron Gazit, head of the Covid Surveillance Team at the Hebrew University, said: “We may actually overestimate the risk of infection during the holiday season. As people have less working hours and less mobility, the chance of infection at family gatherings is offset. NS.”
In the end, the success of “containing” the delta virus by strengthening injections, wearing masks, and increasing testing, while avoiding blockades, may affect other governments’ policies on reopening schools and celebrating Christmas. All eyes are on Israel.
