Israel will be the first country to issue a “green passport” to residents who have received the COVID-19 vaccine. The passport removes some restrictions, including mandatory quarantine after exposure to an infected person, and allows access to cultural events and restaurants, Israel’s Ministry of Health said.
A green passport will be issued by the ministry two weeks after the individual receives the second of the required two shots of vaccination.
“This passport will show that a person has been vaccinated and will provide a number of benefits, such as not having to go to quarantine, access to all kinds of cultural events, restaurants, and so on,” Health Ministry Director General Chezy Levy told Israel. Channel 12.
The green passport would allow residents to travel abroad without having to be tested for the virus, as currently required, Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said.
He explained that the green passports are not intended to provide benefits to those who are being vaccinated, but that “those who are no longer at risk of getting sick from the coronavirus can do things that others who are still at risk from the virus cannot. can do. . “
According to reports in the local media, the first vaccinations could take place from next Sunday.
The first vaccinations would initially be administered from Dec. 27, but the date has been brought forward, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials managing the country’s COVID-19 response said Sunday.
Last Wednesday, Israel received its first shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. By the end of the year, the land was expected to have enough to inoculate about a quarter of the population.
The country is ready to vaccinate 60,000 of its nine million citizens a day, Netanyahu said in a televised address Wednesday.
According to polls, about 50 to 75 percent of Israelis say they plan to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine due to safety concerns.
Netanyahu confirmed he will be the first to be vaccinated.
“The risks of not taking the vaccine far outweigh the risks of taking it, and so I will be vaccinated first and expect everyone to be vaccinated,” the prime minister told Israel’s Channel 20 on Sunday.
According to the latest announcement, the total number of confirmed cases in Israel comes close to 358,000, with 3,003 deaths reported, according to Johns Hopkins University.
According to Monday’s latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO), new cases in Israel each week peaked in the week beginning September 21 and level off from the end of October.
While Israel is the first country to issue a vaccine passport, several countries (including the UK, Estonia, Italy and Chile) are considering the introduction of immunity passports, which would indicate how much immunity a person has to COVID-19 through the detection of antibodies.
As early as April, WHO published guidelines on immunity passports, noting, “ Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an ‘immunity passport’ . ‘or’ risk-free certificate ‘that allows individuals to travel or return to work under the assumption that they are protected from re-infection.
“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” the WHO warned.
Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images
The bigger picture
The novel coronavirus has infected more than 72.3 million people, including more than 16.2 million in the US, since it was first reported in Wuhan, China.
According to John Hopkins University, more than 1.6 million people have died worldwide and more than 47.3 million have recovered as of Monday.
The image below, provided by Statista, shows the countries with the highest COVID-19 death toll.
Statista
The image below, provided by Statista, shows countries with the most COVID-19 cases.
