Israel’s 20% unvaccinated now accounts for half of all severe COVID-19 cases – Israel News



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Unvaccinated Israelis make up only about 20% of the population eligible for a vaccine, but they now constitute half of all severe cases of COVID-19 in the country.

According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health, severe cases among unvaccinated Israelis continue to rise and are on track to overtake those among the vaccinated.

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No serious cases have been recorded among Israelis under the age of 12, who are not eligible for a vaccine under current guidelines.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 330 of 679 critically ill patients were not vaccinated, while 16 were partially vaccinated and 333 fully vaccinated. There are currently 168 critically ill patients and 123 are on ventilators. Despite this, the number of critically ill vaccinated patients appears to have plateaued.

Professor Ran Balicer, who heads an expert committee advising the Department of Health on the coronavirus pandemic, referred to the change in a tweet on Tuesday. He wrote that the “trend” of unvaccinated people becoming the majority of new critically ill patients continues, and said as of Monday, more than 50% of new critically ill patients were unvaccinated.

There was a lull in infections and deaths in early summer, largely attributed to the Israeli government’s successful vaccination campaign. More than 5.4 million eligible Israelis out of 7.1 have been vaccinated. But due to the spread of the delta variant, cases have increased dramatically since late July.

Despite the best efforts of public health officials, some 1,080,000 eligible Israelis remain unvaccinated, the ministry said Monday evening.

This month saw a modest increase in the number of Israelis receiving their first dose, with the number of first injections given per day rising from 3,023 on August 1 to 10,982 on Monday.

Despite the vaccine’s decreasing effectiveness in preventing infection, it still offers significant protection against serious illness.

As of August 21, the Ministry of Health had recorded 215.9 severe cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people among unvaccinated people over the age of 60, compared to 21 per 100,000 people among those who had received two doses of the vaccine. Pfizer. This makes the unvaccinated elderly more than 10 times more likely to suffer from a severe case than their immune counterparts.

About 1.5 million Israelis have already received a third booster injection, which, according to a recent study by Maccabi Healthcare Services, was 86% effective in preventing COVID-19 infection in people 60 years and older .

“The third shot is very effective against both infections and serious illnesses,” said Anat Ekka Zohar, head of Maccabi’s Quality, Research and Digital Health division last week, urging anyone who is eligible to get vaccinated.

“The vaccine is proven to be effective against the delta variant and is the solution to curb widespread infection,” she added. Other data and analysis confirmed that the booster significantly reduces infections and severe cases.

According to ministry data, Israel hit a record seven months of new COVID infections this week, registering nearly 10,000 new cases on Monday, bringing the total number of Israelis infected since February to 1,005,511.



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