Naftali Bennett’s 5 Reasons To Give Israel A Third COVID-19 Injection

His column was published the same day that a high-level advisory team from the United States Food and Drug Administration ruled that there was not enough evidence to give recalls for everyone, and has rather approved to only give injections to people over 65 years of age or those most at risk of infection.

What were Bennett’s five reasons?

1) COVID-19 is a war

“Fighting a pandemic is like fighting a war, where strategic decisions are not to be made by the experts, the generals, but by the elected government, taking into account the larger picture,” Bennett wrote. .

He said the coronavirus pandemic is impacting almost every area of ​​people’s lives, from economics to education, supply chains to mental health and therefore needs to be looked at from a holistic perspective. And while public health experts “tend to be conservative and risk averse,” COVID-19 requires “quick decisions” and “decisive action.”

“Sometimes failing to make risky decisions can be more damaging than taking a calculated risk,” the Prime Minister wrote.

2) The vaccines no longer worked

In February, Israelis began to believe the country had beaten the pandemic. The economy opened up, weddings and cultural events picked up and people took off their masks. But only a few months later, cases started to increase – including among those who had been fully vaccinated.

In addition, those who have been vaccinated would likely be at greater risk.

“People receiving two doses may be at increased risk because they think and act as if they are fully protected, even when that protection may weaken,” Bennett said.

President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett kick off Israel’s third vaccination booster at Sheba Medical Center on July 30, 2021. (HAIM ZACH / GPO)

3) Vaccines are safe

Israel had a lot of information about the side effects of the Pfizer vaccine, which at this point has already been given to some extent to more than six million Israelis, according to Bennett.

“We knew the vaccines worked and their side effects were minor,” the prime minister said.

A study of more than 9,000 Israelis published last week by Maccabi Healthcare Services found that 87% of people experienced at least one side effect, most often pain at the injection site. However, none of the side effects were life threatening and they usually went away within one to three days.

Half of the people said the side effects were worse for the third stroke than the second, and half said they were the same or not as bad. The second most reported side effect (57%) was weakness and fatigue.

Previous first and second dose studies conducted in Israel and abroad also found minimal side effects in the majority of recipients.

4) To avoid further confinement

When cases started to rise, the prime minister came under pressure from some political and health leaders to consider a fourth lockdown. Even as Israel drew closer to the Great Holy Days, it seemed like closure was still on the table.

But Bennett said he knew another lockdown “would hurt our economy and our society more,” he wrote in The Economist. Instead, he decided to “double up on vaccines as a central strategy, along with less restrictive measures such as a face mask mandate in closed spaces and the ‘Green Pass’ program that requires people to wear. proof of being vaccinated or negative. test results in order to participate in various activities.

5) Failure to move forward would erode public trust and fuel anti-vaccines

“When double-dose people get infected and get sick, it erodes public confidence in vaccines and discourages others from getting vaccinated,” Bennett said.

He said letting vaccines run down is not only dangerous, but provides “food for anti-vaccines and conspiracy theorists.”