MESSAGE
| DATE | 2021-05-01 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Digital Dictatorship II and no way out of
|
Reasoning that leaves us enslaved and imprisioned
Israeli health officials caution a full return to normal now could be
months, if not years, away.
As long as children under 16 can’t be vaccinated, they will continue to
spread the virus, these health officials said. They also aren’t sure how
successful the vaccine is against the variants.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Israel’s Speedy Vaccination Campaign Now Faces Key Test in Returning to
Normal
Felicia Schwartz
10-12 minutes
TEL AVIV—Israel lifted restrictions on most commerce and public
activity, opening malls, markets and museums—and requiring the use of a
pass to document vaccination status for some activities.
Sunday’s moves illustrate how Israel, which rolled out the world’s
fastest Covid-19 vaccination campaign, is combining incentives and
threats to get the rest of its population vaccinated—and how it learned
from missteps.
The nation is reopening after having some of the worst infection rates
for months, as many flouted lockdowns, and more recently, a British
variant of the disease ran rampant. Commercial activity largely
sputtered to a halt. “For Rent” signs have proliferated on the
once-bustling seaside avenues of this city.
The opening up and use of what officials are calling green passports,
which allow people to enter gyms and hotels and eventually embark on
quarantine-free travel, set up a test for one of the most closely
watched countries during the pandemic: Can Israel return to relative
normalcy without slipping back into peak infection rates and
overwhelming its healthcare system?
Israel Plans to Vaccinate Everyone by March. Here’s How.
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Israel Plans to Vaccinate Everyone by March. Here’s How.
Israel Plans to Vaccinate Everyone by March. Here’s How.
Israel says it’s on track to vaccinate everyone over 16 by the end of
March. To understand how the small country has vaccinated more of its
population than any other so quickly, WSJ visited clinics that are
giving shots to young and middle-aged citizens. Photo: Tamir Elterman
for The Wall Street Journal
To strike that balance, officials are warning those who shun the
national vaccination campaign that they will be shut out of everyday
activities. “Anyone who does not get vaccinated will be left behind,”
Israel’s health minister Yuli Edelstein said.
As thousands of people rushed to download the “green passport”
documents, the website crashed Saturday night. The Health Ministry said
people could use their vaccination certificates in the meantime.
At the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv, 12 couples were expected to check into
rooms that have reopened to people who have received two shots of the
vaccine. Yossi Navi, the hotel’s general manager, said he expects more
in the next few weeks as Israelis understand hotels are open again and
the weather improves.
With roughly nine million people, about the same as New York City,
Israeli authorities were able to focus on a compact geographic
footprint. Israel’s advanced and fully digitized healthcare system, in
which every citizen by law belongs to one of four healthcare providers,
also sped the drive by identifying citizens in target groups and
reaching them with phone calls, text messages and mobile apps. A deal
between the Jewish state and Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, which
developed the Covid-19 vaccine, became the centerpiece of Israel’s
vaccination campaign.
Cultural hubs and malls have reopened, and Jerusalem residents gathered
at a shopping boulevard.
Photo: abir sultan/Shutterstock
Pfizer agreed to provide enough vaccines to fuel the drive. In exchange,
Israel agreed to provide health data to the New York-based drugmaker to
better understand the vaccine’s impact. Israel also offered a higher
price than many other countries, more than double or triple what the
U.S. and Europe are paying.
After initially offering shots to medical workers and people over 60,
Israel has gradually reduced the eligible age range. Earlier this month,
the vaccine became available to the general public. Now, 49% of Israelis
have received at least one shot and 33% are fully vaccinated, almost
entirely with the Pfizer vaccine.
Getting to this point entailed stumbles that fueled infections and
forced the country into a string of lockdowns.
Although Israel fared relatively well in the first wave of the disease,
Israeli public health experts say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
government bowed to public pressure from businesses and reopened too
early, especially the school system. A crippling summer wave boosted
cases to about 4,000 a day, and they later peaked in January during the
third wave at around 10,000 cases a day.
In September, Israel became the first developed nation to enter a second
lockdown. The government allowed only essential businesses to remain
open, closing restaurants, hotels and gyms and limiting outdoor
gatherings. The cumulative effect of the lockdowns is estimated by the
government to have cost the Israeli economy billions of dollars.
Health officials blamed a third year-end wave largely on mass travel to
Dubai, after the United Arab Emirates and Israel normalized a diplomatic
relationship and opened travel links. Israel declined to require
returning travelers to quarantine on arriving back in Israel, fearing
the move would chill ties. When infections began to rise, Israel was
slow to cut off international flights and quarantine travelers, and a
British variant breached the borders. In January alone, Israel reported
30% of its total coronavirus deaths.
A woman shows her vaccination status to enter a gym in Tel Aviv.
Photo: ronen zvulun/Reuters
Israeli health officials caution a full return to normal now could be
months, if not years, away.
As long as children under 16 can’t be vaccinated, they will continue to
spread the virus, these health officials said. They also aren’t sure how
successful the vaccine is against the variants.
The government has had one powerful weapon in its campaign—the vaccine
itself. According to data released Saturday by the health ministry, the
risk of death from coronavirus falls 98.9% two weeks after both shots of
the Pfizer vaccine. Israel also found that, in the same period after two
shots, serious illness decreased by 99.2%, morbidity by 95.8%, and
hospitalization by 98.9%. The figures are compared with a nonvaccinated
group.
In the early days of its campaign, Israel increased the speed of the
inoculation drive by giving out leftover doses to anyone who showed up
for them.
While Israel raced ahead, it also faced pressure to supply vaccines to
the Palestinians for humanitarian reasons. Israeli officials have
acknowledged that failing to reach immunity in the West Bank and Gaza
could hamper Israel’s efforts.
So far it has donated 5,000 vaccines to the Palestinian Authority and
delivered 2,000, and officials have said they would look into supplying
more once Israel’s population is fully vaccinated. Last week, it allowed
1,000 doses of the Sputnik vaccine from Russia to be sent to Gaza, part
of 10,000 doses Russia provided for the Palestinians. The Palestinian
Authority also has agreements under the World Health Organization’s
Covax program to receive vaccines for 60% of its population.
Israel’s vaccine campaign still confronts obstacles, mainly among those
resisting it: many young people as well as swaths of the country’s
ultraorthodox and Arab populations.
A survey published Tuesday by Israel’s Channel 12 found that 25% of
Israelis say they have no intention of being vaccinated. Among those who
haven’t, 41% said they feared side effects, 30% said they weren’t sure
if the vaccine is effective, and 27% said they would do it soon.
Beyond the green passport system, Israeli cities and towns are offering
their own sweeteners to drive inoculations.
The ultraorthodox city of Bnei Brak served Cholent, a traditional beef
stew, to those who showed up for shots. Tel Aviv city set up a mobile
vaccination center in Dizengoff Square, a popular nightlife spot, and is
offering free drinks to anyone who gets vaccinated. In Holon, a suburb
southeast of Tel Aviv, the city has hired DJs to create a party-like
atmosphere to lure people over 16 for shots. Israel also sent a mobile
van to the country’s south near hiking trails to attract nature lovers.
Many Israelis on Sunday were returning to activities and habits they
haven’t experienced in months.
Mike Korda, the owner of boutique fitness gym Locker Room, said he had
lost 50% of his clients over the course of the pandemic. He reopened on
Sunday and is requiring anyone who returns to the gym to upload their
vaccination certificates into the fitness center’s app, where they book
classes.
Returning to normal isn’t easy, he said as he awaited the lunchtime
rush. “Now the challenge is to get everybody back.”
—Dov Lieber contributed to this article.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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