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Israel on Sunday became the first country in the world to no longer provide its vaccination certificate, known locally as the Green Pass, to citizens who had received their second dose of the vaccine more than six months ago – a move that reflects the Growing recognition of the vaccine’s decline in immunity over time and the need for booster doses to maintain high levels of protection against COVID.
The new policy, which comes two months after Israel began its national booster vaccination campaign, will result in the loss of more than one million Israelis of their Green Pass certificates. These are Israelis who received their second dose of the vaccine more than six months ago and have so far not received their third injection. The loss of their Green Pass certificates will prevent them from fully participating in social and business activities across the country.
All previously issued green passes were scheduled to expire on Sunday, and those that qualify for new passes must be reissued through the Department of Health website or the Ramzor app.
According to the revised guidelines, only those who have received their third injection of the coronavirus vaccine, or their second dose in the past six months, will be considered fully immunized and eligible for the new pass.
The new Green Pass includes a unique QR code, which business and facility owners are expected to scan before allowing holders to access public facilities.
In August, Israel became the first country in the world to make booster injections widely available, as it became evident that the protection provided by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was waning over time and Israel was suddenly in the midst of a fourth wave caused by the most contagious delta variant.
Professor Nadav Davidovich, head of the Israel Association of Public Health Physicians, said that requiring Israelis to receive the booster in order to be considered fully vaccinated and eligible for the Green Pass was “the right decision.”
According to Davidovitch, who is also director of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Desert, Be’er Sheva, the Green Pass is “neither a prize nor a punishment”, but rather a public health measure. based on the consideration of epidemiological data.
Israel changed its policy regarding immunization status earlier than other countries because it started immunizing earlier (last December), and enough time has passed “to see a sharp increase in community transmission” , explained Davidovich.
He added that the data indicated that the increase in protection after a third injection could “be 10 times greater, compared to people who received the second dose.”
A recent joint study by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa and KSM – the Maccabi Research and Innovation Center, found that about six months after a person received the second dose of the vaccine, its effectiveness in reducing viral load. dissipates. But a third dose reduces viral loads by a factor of four, restoring the vaccine’s effectiveness to what it was soon after the second dose was given.
According to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month, the protection offered by the Pfizer vaccine begins to decline approximately 4 months after the date of vaccination. The CDC recently approved the rollout of a recall to several at-risk demographics, although there was some disagreement over the scope of the proposed campaign.
Key indicators have suggested that the current wave of coronavirus infections in Israel is on the decline, with the unvaccinated accounting for almost all of the country’s serious infections and deaths, despite making up only 15% of the vaccine-eligible population. from the country.
As of Sunday, the number of critically ill patients stood at 588 (two days after the number hit an almost six-week low at 586), including 254 in critical condition. According to the available data, despite their relatively low representation in the general population, 75 percent of critically ill patients were not vaccinated. In addition, 19% are vaccinated but have not received a booster, while 6% have received the third vaccine.
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