LONDON – Israel is by far the leader in the world when it comes to vaccinating its population against COVID-19. Even though the country faces high infection rates and is blocked, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted last week, “We will be the first country in the world to emerge from the coronavirus.”
More than 20% of the 9.29 million residents have so far received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which to date far exceeds vaccination rates in any other country in the world.
Since the vaccine was approved, the country has moved quickly and deployed its emergency resources with great success, but the vaccination program – led by Netanyahu himself – is not without controversy, as the 5 million Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank living are excluded. of the rollout.
Emergency
Israel has both a highly standardized public health system and a relatively small population. The US, meanwhile, has 64 health jurisdictions – each with their own rules and regulations – and the best per capita vaccination rates were seen in areas with a smaller population.
Yet vaccination coverage in Israel is astounding. Netanyahu announced the goal on Jan. 10 to increase the rate of vaccinations to 170,000 a day, saying that 72% of people over the age of 60 have received their first dose. By March, he said, the government would “deliver shipment after shipment and complete the vaccination of the population of 16 and older in Israel.” Then the authorities will try to start vaccinating under the age of 16 if research shows it is safe. Friday morning, 170,000 Israelis got their second booster shot – part of the two-step regimen that requires the Pfizer vaccine.
“Right now, we are in a mighty race between two events: the spread of the disease and the distribution of the vaccines,” Netanyahu said. “We are ahead of the world in vaccines with the millions of vaccines we have brought.”
Israeli health workers on the front line have quickly moved on to vaccinate such large numbers in a short space of time.
While most vaccinations take place outside of hospitals in specialized centers, staff continues to work hard to vaccinate the population as well as treat the steady influx of coronavirus patients.
At the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, which has been administering the vaccines for some time, the staff is in great need to vaccinate as much as possible.
“It’s like a mission, I do injections for my friends and for my colleagues,” Vicky Greenberg, the chief nurse in the hospital’s surgical intensive care unit, told ABC News.
“I really hope that in a few months we can celebrate Pesach (Passover) with our families, not in Zoom like last year. I have to get married so I have to do it in May. It should work until May. Patient after patient for eight, nine hours a day. “
Prof. Joseph Klausner, chief of surgery at Ichilov Hospital, described the early success of Israel’s early vaccination program as a “combined effort.”
“On the one hand, it is a relatively small community compared to the [United] States, for example, so it’s much easier to get there, get to the population and get treatment there. But there was certainly some effort to achieve this. “
Dr. Dalit Salzer, another doctor at the hospital, told ABC News she was “proud and excited” to be part of the early vaccination efforts at the start of a 26-hour shift.
The hospital’s current CEO is also Israel’s former COVID Commissioner Prof. Ronni Ganzu, who has seen the challenges of leading a coronavirus response at the national and local levels. A strong public health system as well as the many experiences of political and military crises have helped mobilize the resources needed to vaccinate so many so quickly.
“We understand that in a disaster, in an emergency, we have a very short time to act,” Ganzu told ABC News. “And this is what we are really used to do. We are trained to do that, the energy they want to put in to win the war, [we are] I really look forward to giving the vaccine to as many Israelis as possible. “
Deals and data
The accelerated vaccination program takes place at a time when the country has the highest rates of COVID-19 infection and death since the start of the pandemic. According to the Ministry of Health, the country is locked out until January 21, even during the introduction of mass vaccinations, with 3,892 deaths from coronavirus and 533,026 confirmed cases.
The controversial Israeli prime minister has placed himself at the forefront and center of the vaccination program’s success. He was the first Israeli to receive an injection and at the weekend, with the media present, he received his second. Netanyahu boasted a close relationship with Pfizer’s chairman and CEO, Albert Courla, whom he describes as a “friend.”
The pair have held 17 talks since Jan. 17, Netanyahu claimed last Sunday. Israel will share with Pfizer and around the world the statistical data that will help develop strategies to beat the coronavirus, ”Netanyahu said earlier this month as part of the agreement.
“Pfizer and the Israeli Ministry of Health (MoH) have entered into a partnership agreement to study the real impact of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” a Pfizer spokesperson told ABC News.
“This project will collect critical real-world epidemiological information that will allow real-time monitoring of the evolution of the epidemic in Israel and the potential of a vaccination program using the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to trigger indirect protection. and to interrupt, evaluate viral transmission. .
“While this project is being carried out in Israel, the insights gained will be applicable around the world and we expect governments to be able to maximize the public health impacts of their vaccination campaigns, determine potential immunization rates necessary to interrupt the transmission and ultimately help end the transmission. to the global COVID-19 pandemic. “
A report in Politico claimed that an official briefing from officials on Jan. 5 had suggested that Israel paid Pfizer $ 30 per person, more than what is paid by some other countries. An Israeli broadcaster report claimed that the country spent $ 47 per person or $ 23.50 per dose, according to the Times of Israel.
That’s more than what the US government paid for their initial 100 million doses, $ 1.9 billion, which works out to $ 19 per dose and $ 38 per person. The EU agreed to pay Pfizer / BioNTech $ 18.50 per dose, or $ 37 per person, according to Reuters.
“To implement this project, the Israeli Justice Department will receive vaccine doses at a pre-agreed price (which will remain confidential),” said Pfizer’s spokesman.
Politics and Palestine
Israel’s vaccination policy has led to the condemnation of human rights groups and the Palestinian National Authority, as the rollout does not include the more than 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, many of whom travel to Israel for work.
The country is vaccinating Israeli residents in West Bank settlements, but not Palestinians living there or in Gaza. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have said the exclusion means Israel “ignores its obligations” as an occupation force under international law and “exposes Israel’s institutionalized discrimination.”
There are high rates of infections and deaths in the West Bank and Gaza, which are currently being shut down at short notice, and Amnesty International called on Israel to “ensure that vaccines are distributed equally to the Palestinians under their control.”
“We condemn the racism of the occupying state, which boasts of the speed at which its citizens are vaccinated and which ignores the legal responsibility to provide vaccines to the occupied people,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said this month.
But that is unlikely in the current climate. Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s health minister, has said the priority is to vaccinate as many Israelis first before considering a shortage on the Palestinian side.
The Palestinian Authority is negotiating with several other companies to purchase their own vaccines. The Russian Direct Investment Fund has announced that Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has been registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Mai Kailleh, the health minister, said delivery of the vaccine will begin in February.
“I think there are certainly moral and legal obligations,” Yossi Mekelberg, professor of international relations and senior fellow at the Chatham House think tank, told ABC News. “Many of them work in Israel or in the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. They move from one place to another. But it doesn’t play on Netanyahu’s base, and probably won’t. “
Meanwhile, doctors in Gaza, badly hit by the first wave and now fearful of the second wave, say the need for a vaccine is as acute as ever.
“We can say that we are working in a comfortable situation, we are no longer under pressure and I hope this will continue because there is always a fear of a second wave and usually it’s an aggressive one,” Dr. Mohammed El Sheek Ali, the head of the European Gaza Hospital’s Covid ward told ABC News. “We need the vaccine and because we are facing a difficult situation in Gaza, we are short of resources as soon as possible.”
Bruno Nota, Nasser Atta and Sohel Uddin from ABC News contributed to this report.