Israel is leading the world in Covid vaccinations as it continues to roll out a large scale vaccination programme. On New Years Day, the country celebrated its millionth vaccination – which occurred in the Arab Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm – and the country has today reached 1.5 million.
Israel has so far vaccinated more than 16% of its population with the first dose after it began its vaccination campaign on 20 December. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first to receive the vaccination, live on TV. The country continues to surpass its daily target of 150,000 vaccinations.
The programme is operating 24/7 and is initially open to those over 60, health workers and the clinically vulnerable, but many other Israelis have been able to receive vaccinations as they are able to queue to receive leftover vaccinations at the end of each day. As of today, Israel has reportedly vaccinated over 55% of its over-60s.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted at the weekend that Israel was “leading in a big way, and we’ll be the first to escape corona”.
Professor Allon Moses, Director of the Hadassah Medical Organisation’s Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said that Israel is treating the vaccination drive “like a war… and Israel is experienced in battles”.
He added: “The hospitals are involved, the community clinics are involved, the army enlisted about 700 paramedics to help with the injections of the vaccine… It’s very similar to battle: you have an enemy, you have the right ammunition… and you just have to deliver”. Professor Moses addressed Conservative parliamentarians at a CFI Zoom briefing in April 2020.
The progress in Israel’s vaccination programme coincides with the implementation of a third 14-day national lockdown, after case rates increased significantly in recent weeks to 6,000+ a day and hospitals reaching capacity.
According to Ministry of Health officials, Israel is on course to have vaccinated over two million people by the end of January – mostly using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The country’s health officials are currently considering whether to temporarily halt providing the first vaccination shot to its younger citizens in order to provide the second injection to the elderly.
Israel’s early success with its vaccination drive has attracted considerable media coverage. Ran Nir-Paz, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, has described Israel as being regarded by Pfizer as a “test case” and as “a kind of proof of concept to show that the vaccines work”.
Israel’s vaccine success has in part been attributed to its small size and the efficiencies of its nationalised healthcare system, in which all nine million citizens possess identity cards and have electronic medical files registered with one of four national health maintenance organisations (HMOs) who provide lifetime health coverage. By law, all Israeli citizens must be registered with a recognised health care provider.
Israel also maintains a national vaccination registry, first designed for childhood vaccinations, which is being used to closely monitor the progress of the vaccination programme.
Vaccination centres have been set up around the country to facilitate the drive, including sports arenas, and the country has safely subdivided shipments of the Pfizer vaccine – which must be kept at -70C – to ensure that smaller batches can be provided to remote communities.
Israel has reportedly secured an additional six million doses of the Moderna vaccine which are expected to begin arriving in the country later this month, earlier than the initial March delivery date.
Around 1.8 million people are known to have now died from Covid-19 around the world.
