Israel’s case casts doubt on the resistance of the Delta variant to vaccines | 85% of Israelis have Pfizer but cases are on the rise

Israel save the highest number of coronavirus cases in three months due to Delta variant: 343 people they tested positive in the last 24 hours. For specialists, this is an indication that this variant could be resistant to vaccines.

The government of Naftalí Bennett, which has already reimposed the compulsory use of the chinstrap in closed public places, is evaluating new health measures and the possibility of applying a third dose in the population considered at risk.

The Israeli Ministry of Health reported that this Sunday no death was recorded in the country and that there was only one in two weeks, despite the constant increase in infections.

90 percent of new cases, reported the health authorities, are caused by the Delta variant. Half of daily cases occur in kids, and the other half in Adults, mostly vaccinated.

Israel is the country that has the highest vaccination rate in the world with 85 percent of its 9 million inhabitants fully immunized and for this reason, it is assumed that the number of deaths is so low although positive cases have rebounded 60% in the past three weeks.

The health ministry said 5,645,604 people have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, of which 5,177,756 have already received the full schedule.

He also pointed out that at this time there are 2,597 active cases in the country, including 35 people in serious condition, and accumulates 843,123 cases and 6,428 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Bennett and his Minister of Health, Nitzan Horowitz, called a meeting on Monday to assess the situation and the possibility of introducing new restrictions that are in addition to the return of the use of masks in closed public spaces and the strengthening of airport checks.

Authorities in Israel are also planning to inject a third dose of the vaccine into people in risk groups to strengthen the immune system and prevent the spread of the disease.

On Monday, Ran Balicer, chairman of the national expert panel on covid-19 in Israel, where the majority of the population has received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, said the increase in cases is “a preliminary sign” that this vaccine may be less effective at preventing mild forms of COVID-19 caused by the Delta variant.

The expert, however, stressed that it was “too early to accurately assess the effectiveness of vaccines against the variant”, first identified in India in April and which is spreading around the world.

Balicer, also director of innovation for health insurance company Clalit, told AFP that the emergence of the Delta variant as a dominant mutation has caused a “massive shift in the dynamics of transmission.”