Almost Half of the Deaths in Israel in the Past Month are Among Unvaccinated

The data released by the Health Ministry of Israel on Friday shows that the number of COVID-19 patients in serious condition has remained stable. As opposed to a day earlier, the number of coronavirus patients in serious condition has increased from 654 to 658. The unvaccinated people in Israel make up 17% of the total population of Israel that’s eligible for the vaccine. Around two-thirds of the patients in serious condition belong to this 17%. This difference becomes even more evident when you take the booster shots of the vaccine into account. 

In the age group of people 60 and above, there are 222 patients in serious condition who haven’t gotten vaccinated, whereas 101 of the patients have received 2 doses of the vaccine and 46 of them have gotten the booster shot. As for people who are below the age of 60 and in serious condition, 200 of them are unvaccinated, while 49 have gotten two doses and 7 have gotten a booster shot. The total death toll in the country has hit 7,465, as the total number of deaths in the past month was around 703 and 322 of these were unvaccinated. On Thursday, the rate of positive tests of the coronavirus was 6.33%. 

This was an increase from 5.93% previously and the number of new cases diagnosed had reached 3,121. However, the number of tests conducted was relatively lower because all testing centers had been shut down because of Yom Kippur. A total of 54,000 tests were conducted. The R number also saw a decline from 1.14 to 1.05. This number indicates the average number of people that will be infected by an infected person. It is calculated based on the data of 10 days back and if the R number is above one, it means that the outbreak is spreading. 

Meanwhile, the total number of Israelis to have received the third booster shot is growing and is now close to 3 million. A new Israeli study was recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which highlights that the booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine increase protection from the infection ten times in people aged 60 and above. This study was based on the data of around 1.14 million Israelis who fall in this age group and had received two doses of the vaccine by the end of August. 

The cases in the study were divided into two groups; one consisted of people who had received two doses of the vaccine and the second one comprised of people who had gotten their third dose as well. The researchers discovered that around 12 days after the third shot was administered, the rate of infection was around 11.4 times higher in those who hadn’t gotten the third shot, as opposed to those who had. Likewise, their rate of getting severely ill was also around 19.5 times higher, which indicates that the third shot can increase protection significantly more than the two doses of the vaccine.