Israel reopens economy with successful vaccination campaign

TEL AVIV.- The vaccine shows that the war against the pandemic can truly be won and a clear example is Israel, which has reopened most of its economy today in the final phase to remove restrictions against the coronavirus, some of which have been active since September.

“We’re going to get out of this”the Israeli Prime Minister announced with understandable satisfaction, Benjamin Netanyahu, the day when most economic activities, including restaurants, cafes, schools (in some areas with low infection rates), cultural events, tourist attractions, began to function again, some with a “Green passport or pass”, a permit that is granted to people who have received two doses of the vaccine or who have been cured of Covid-19.

“It’s a beautiful day, we open the restaurants with the green passport, we come back to life,” added the prime minister, sitting on a sunny terrace in a cafe in Jerusalem next to the mayor of the holy city, Moshe. Leon.

The government allowed the restrictions to be lifted last night. This included the reopening of the main international airport, Ben-Gurion, to a limited number of daily passengers. About 1,000 travelers from New York, Frankfurt, London and Paris are expected to arrive. Land border crossings with Jordan will also be allowed, up to twice a week, and with Egypt, once to allow Israelis to re-enter the country.

The opening comes after months of government-imposed closures and less than three weeks for the the country’s fourth parliamentary elections in two years. Netanyahu wants to be re-elected as coronavirus vaccination champion, at the same time as he is celebrated his trial for corruption.

The latest polls put his party, the Likud (right), in first place, but without enough support, for now, to form a government with its allies.

Israel, the world leader in per capita vaccinations, fully vaccinated nearly 40% of its population in just two months. Nearly 5 million people received the first dose, 3.8 million also the booster: almost the entire population protected against Covid-19.

After agreeing to receive large amounts of vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech in exchange for citizens’ medical data, Israel has distributed more than 8.6 million doses since the campaign began in late December.

Among patients vaccinated in Israel with two doses, only 2.87% suffered from serious Covid-19 infections, according to new data released by the Department of Health as evidence of the vaccine’s ability to protect. According to statistics, therefore, out of 6,905 critically ill patients, only 175 were those who had been immunized with two doses. Of the remaining 5,920 patients, 75% were never vaccinated.

In addition, according to the ministry, none of the deaths in February were in vaccinated patients.

In the last 24 hours, 1,923 new infections out of around 45,000 samples taken have been recorded, with a positive rate of 4.3% against around more than 10% which had been detected in January. Critically ill people are also dropping, now at 724.

Although the vaccination rate continues to rise and severe cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, are decreasing, the unemployment rate remains high. In January 18.4% of Israeli workers were unemployed due to the pandemic, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

As he carried vaccines to his citizens, Israel has provided few vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which worsened inequalities. The government has been criticized for not sharing a significant portion of its vaccine stocks with the Palestinians. Israel on Friday postponed vaccination plans for Palestinians working in the country and its West Bank settlements until further notice.

In fact, in Israel, 50% of the most serious Covid-19 patients are Palestinians, despite the fact that this minority represents around one-fifth of the national population.

The Israeli authorities said their priority was to vaccinate their people first, while the Palestinian Authority said it would manage to procure vaccines on its own from the WHO-led alliance with humanitarian organizations, known as Covax.

Israel has confirmed at least 800,000 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic and 5,861 deaths, according to the health ministry.

AFP, ANSA and AP agencies

THE NATION

More information