Data so far shows the Pfizer vaccine has a very high effectiveness in preventing illness, hospitalizations and mortality.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

With nearly half of Israel’s population having received at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine, data released on the weekend by the Health Ministry shows that it has almost 99% efficacy in preventing serious illness, Israel Hayom reported Sunday.

According to the data, 14 days after injection, the second dose of the vaccine was 95.8% efficient in preventing new infections, and 98% of those inoculated did not develop fever or respiratory symptoms.

The vaccine is 98.9% effective in preventing hospitalizations due to corona, 99.2% in the prevention of severe corona cases and 98.9% in preventing death by coronavirus, the data shows.

The data as of Feb. 13 was for those Israelis who had received the required two shots of the vaccine made by the American company Pfizer, which are given three weeks apart. The effectiveness was compared to people who had not been vaccinated at all.

“Thanks to the strong health care system of the State of Israel, which has allowed us in a short time to reach an unprecedented inoculation in the population, and our ability for comprehensive epidemiological surveillance, we are the first country in the world to demonstrate the effect of corona vaccine in a real clinical world,” said Health Ministry Director General Hezi Levy.

“The vaccine significantly reduces morbidity and mortality and this effect can be seen in the morbidity data in the country,” Levy said.

“Our goal is to continue to vaccinate the entire population from the age of 16 and up, and in time also under the age of 16, to achieve widespread coverage in the population that will allow us to return to the routine of our lives we all long for,” Levy added.

As of Monday, 4.4 million out of Israel’s 9.3 million population had received at least the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine, with 3 million – a third of the country – fully vaccinated with two shots.

With the infection rate dropping and a reduction in the number of Israelis hospitalized in serious condition with coronavirus, the government allowed large sections of the economy to reopen Sunday. For the first time in nearly a year, a live performance was held in Tel Aviv, though with a limited audience. Those admitted were required to show proof that they had received both vaccinations or had recovered from COVID-19.

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As coronavirus infections continue to skyrocket, officials say hospitals are on the verge of collapse under the load.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

With the number of coronavirus infections at record high levels, a senior health official warned that the country might be headed for a national lockdown that would last at least a month, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.

In a tense video conference with the heads of Israel’s major hospitals, Health Ministry director-general Prof. Hezi Levy said that if Israel goes to a lockdown, it will have to be imposed for at least a month to be effective.

The closure is expected to come at the start of the Rosh Hashana new year’s holiday season that begins September 18 and continues past the end of the Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) holiday, which ends the second week of October.

The move would duplicate the closure imposed earlier this year during the Passover holiday that successfully helped bring the first wave of coronavirus infections to an end. The lockdown would prevent millions of Jewish Israelis from gathering for traditional family meals and close synagogues – two known sources of infection.

Compounding the problem was the announcement Tuesday evening that Levy and the top Health Ministry officials were forced to go into self-isolation after it was discovered they had been in a room with a ministry staff member who was confirmed to be infected.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kish and four other top health officials will have to work from home or camp out alone in their offices.

In a Zoom call, most of the hospital directors told Levy they think a general closure is needed immediately to deal with the growing morbidity.

“A closure of two or three weeks will not be enough to make a difference,” Levy acknowledged. “A one-month closure will be required.”

A source familiar with the meeting told Channel 12 that the exchange with the ministry director-general was particularly stormy.

Hospital directors called on Levy to push for a general nationwide closure.

“The earlier the closure takes effect, the greater the chance that we will be able to settle for a shorter closure,” one official said, while Wolfson Hospital director Dr. Anat Engel was of the minority opinion that there was no need for a closure.

The hospital heads had harsh criticism for the politicians, who have been squabbling among themselves for weeks as the infection rate increased to record levels and pushed Israel into the embarrassing position of having the world’s highest per-capita infection rate.

“All the steps that one wants to take are stopped at the political level. The decisions should be professional and not political, and now significant steps are needed,” one director said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week that closures would be imposed starting Sunday on the cities with the highest infection rates. However, following opposition from politicians, that decision was watered down to only a nightly curfew and school closures that were started Tuesday evening in 40 cities.

Several cities ignored the school closures, and Knesset member Yitzhak Pindross of United Torah Judaism called on all schools in cities under closure orders to remain open. Elsewhere, businesses and residents were seen ignoring the curfews and police were not enforcing the closures.

“A collapse [of the hospitals] does not come in one day, it is a gradual process that is already being felt today in the hospital wards,” one hospital director said. “Enough of using nice words – a closure should be imposed as early as possible so that it will be more effective.”

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