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Israel is on track to be the first country in the world to vaccinate its entire population against Covid-19.
As of the second week of January, 1.9 million people in Israel received a first dose of the vaccine, which is equivalent to 22.34 doses given per 100 people. This compares to 2.82 doses per 100 people in the United States.
Israel’s rapid vaccination program, which began on December 19, 2020, offers the prospect of becoming the first country to control the pandemic through vaccination.
GlobalData epidemiologists analyzed daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Israel from March 8, 2020 to January 12, 2021 (Figure 1). Israel experienced its first case of the virus on February 21, 2020, which was followed by four waves of infections.
Since the vaccine requires two doses to achieve high levels of protection, with several weeks of waiting in between, if the public becomes complacent in their individual response to stopping the spread of the virus, the current wave could quickly become the strongest. big.
Israel entered a third nationwide lockdown on December 27 amid a rapid rise in infections and the recent detection of two new, highly contagious strains. It is imperative that these strict restrictions remain in place until the majority of the population has received two doses of the vaccine.
If Israel begins to see the impact of vaccination, without a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the coming months, it will provide a gold standard for other countries around the world. However, with its smaller geography and population, Israel has an advantage over many countries, so it would be unrealistic for many to vaccinate their entire population at the same rate.
Israel’s digitalized medical system has contributed to the speed and efficiency of the immunization program, so countries with less structured health systems can take much longer.
Israel is in no way able to relax at this point in the pandemic. The country needs the public’s will more than ever to adhere to strict lockdown measures to keep the number of new infections from rising to the highest levels yet. However, the end of the pandemic is in sight for Israel. If the country continues to immunize its population at an increasing rate and severe restrictive measures remain in place while this happens, this wave of infection will be the last major epidemic.
Figure 1: Daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Israel, all ages, men and women, March 8, 2020 – January 12, 2021 (N).
Source: GlobalData; Janssenmedicalcloud.net
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