On the 13th of August, the health minister of the State of Israel, Nitzan Horowitz, had been given his booster shot of the coronavirus vaccine. On that day, the 56-year-old had remarked how the country had become the first to offer a third dose to citizens aged 50 and above. While encouraging people to get the job, he had also said that the world is currently in a race against the deadly contagion.
As of now, Israel is one of the leading countries across the globe, which has successfully achieved high levels of vaccination for the coronavirus. 78% of people aged 12 and above have been fully inoculated. A large chunk of the population of the country was administered the Pfizer vaccine.
Despite the success that the Jewish State has experienced due to its vaccination campaign, it has recorded some of the highest infection rates in the world in the last couple of weeks. It has been reporting almost 650 new cases of the disease on a daily basis per million people. More than half of those contracting the virus are people who have been fully vaccinated. The outbreak of the deadly contagion has thus underscored the heightened transmissibility of the ultra-infectious Delta variant. This has raised certain concerns regarding the benefits of the vaccination as time passes.
On the other hand, experts believe that breakthrough infections were bound to happen. The unvaccinated are most likely to contract this particular variant and end up in the hospital or succumb to it. But Israel has been carrying out the booster campaign with considerable success, encouraging other countries to start administering the third shot too.
According to the Chief Innovation Officer at Clalit Health Services (CHS), Ran Balicer, their campaign is a sign that other countries need to do the same thing too. He warned that if cases could arise in the country even after vaccination, then they could surface anywhere. He pointed out that a surge in infections due to the Delta variant is more or less inevitable, even in countries with high vaccination rates.
Right now, Israel is being closely monitored, given that it was one of the first to make its way out of the pandemic by starting the administration of vaccinations from December of 2020. It quickly achieved its goals and became envious of other nations at the time. The country has an impressive public health infrastructure, as well as a population enrolled in HMOs, which keep a close eye on them. This ensures high quality and real-world data on the efficacy of the vaccines.
Experts have lauded the Jewish State for its vaccination efforts, stating that some of the best data flow out of here. They believe that the inoculation campaign run by the government was especially bold, as it gave others a chance to learn from it.
Currently, the HMOs in Israel are being led by Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) and CHS. They are responsible for tracking demographics, along with several coronavirus metrics related to infections, deaths, and illnesses.