Israel and Hungary Discuss Recognition of Vaccine Certificate

In recent news, relevant authorities from the State of Israel and Hungary have decided to mutually recognize vaccination certificate that they provide. This was announced by Gabi Ashkenazi, a Foreign Minister in Israel. 

Ashkenazi took to the micro-blogging website, Twitter, to reveal that he had had a conversation with the Foreign Minister in Hungary, regarding the recognition of these vaccine certificates. The two Ministers also talked about a green corridor. He went on to add that the two countries will be further cementing their relationship with this agreement and give a boost to tourism between them. 

Just last week, the Foreign Minister made an announcement saying that the country had been successful in reaching a landmark agreement with Bahrain. The two countries had mutually decided to recognize documents providing proof of inoculation. 

As of now, there are a handful of countries, such as Cyprus and Greece, who are accepting documents carried by citizens of Israel. These tourists are allowed in and exempted from quarantine regulations. However, the Health Authorities in Israel have been hesitating to move forward in a similar manner and provide the same recognition to these countries. The country’s hesitation comes from a fear of risk of forgeries. 

Nevertheless, some of these countries are currently engaging with the State of Israel to negotiate an acceptance of their vaccination certificates as well. 

Hungary was initially a challenge for Israel. This was specifically because the country is using the Russian vaccine, Sputnik, to carry out its vaccination campaign. This particular vaccine has not received the seal of approval from either European or American health agencies. 

Starting from the 23rd of May of this year, the State of Israel is all set to reopen its borders and welcome tourists with open arms.

In other news, the equine-version, ECoV, of the coronavirus, is reportedly becoming a major threat for all horses present in Israel. This was revealed by a new study, conducted by researchers in Israel, who used a sample of seroprevalence to figure this out. The sample helps identity the pathogen present in the population, as per the count in the blood serum. 

The study revealed that around 58.6% of the horses present in central Israel had contracted the ECoV. Whereas, 41 horses, or 12.3%, had anti-ECoV antibodies. 

This study came against the backdrop of ECoV outbreaks reported in several countries, such as European Union, Japan, and United States, as well as sporadic cases found in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. 

The equine coronavirus has been found to be pathogenic to animals, as well as humans. It has similar traits to the novel coronavirus, which is said to have originated in China, via bats. In the same way, ECoV is also believed to have come from bats, which is a possible descendant of rat coronavirus or BCoV. 

The study further noted that a possible reason of the ECoV growing in Israeli horses is probably due to the import and export of horses, to and from the State of Israel. Though the equine coronavirus is self-limiting when it comes to infecting others, it may lead to several severe complications amongst some animals. Moreover, asymptomatic carriers could transmit the virus on to other animals.