JERUSALEM – Israel reopened parts of its economy on Sunday, including shopping centers and leisure facilities, with the government saying the start of a return to routine was made possible by Covid-19 vaccines administered to nearly half the population.
Shops were open to all, but access to gyms, hotels, and theaters was limited to those with a “Green Pass”: those who had both doses of the vaccine more than a week before, or who have recovered from the disease with the disease. presumed immunity.
Pass holders could prove their status by showing a certificate of vaccination or by downloading an app from the Ministry of Health linked to their medical records.
Just a year after Israel’s first documented coronavirus case, the relaxation of curbs on Sunday was part of a government plan to open up the economy on a wider scale next month, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is up for re-election.
“We are the first country in the world to revive itself thanks to the millions of vaccines we have brought in,” he tweeted“Vaccinated? Buy the Green Pass and come back to life.”
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Wearing a mask and distancing yourself from society were still in effect. Dancing was prohibited in banquet halls. Synagogues, mosques or churches had to halve their normal congregation size.
Primary school children and students in the last two years of secondary school resumed classes in cities where infection rates were controlled. However, high school students were still learning at home, prompting some to hold a sit-down protest in a mall.
“I haven’t been to school for a year,” said 14-year-old protester Rotem Bachar. “How does it make sense to open up shopping centers to crowds when we can’t attend class if they have even 15 to 20 students and take other precautions?”
Israel has administered at least one dose of the Pfizer Inc vaccine to more than 46 percent of its 9 million residents, the country’s Ministry of Health said.
On Saturday, the ministry said the risk of disease from Covid-19 fell by 95.8 percent among people who received both injections.
Meanwhile, a new Israeli study of vaccinated health workers at the country’s largest hospital showed that the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer produces a robust immune response after just one dose.
Israel has recorded more than 740,000 cases and 5,500 deaths from Covid-19, criticizing Netanyahu’s sometimes patchy enforcement of three national lockdowns. The government has promised that there will be no fourth.
Israel, meanwhile, has come under international criticism for largely excluding Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from its highly successful vaccination campaign, exacerbating the lingering inequality with Israelis that began long before the pandemic.