PREMIUM
SAL EMERGUI
@salemergui
Jerusalem
Monday, January 4, 2021 - 19:03
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BioNTech will increase production to meet demand for vaccines in the EU
The "Start Up Nation" has become the "Vaccine Nation".
For days the Israeli newscasts have opened with the birth of new parties ahead of the elections next March, the significant outbreak of the coronavirus and, above all, the astonishing rate of vaccination that places Israel in the first place of the world ranking with an abysmal difference.
In just two weeks, 1,224,000 people have received the first dose of the vaccine in a country of 9,291,000 people that has inadvertently become a large and successful testing laboratory for Pfizer.
"
We are breaking all records. We have brought millions of vaccines to Israel. We have been ahead of the whole world
and now we are advancing with our excellent Kupot Jolim (HMO, in English)," proclaims Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in reference to medical mutuals of support and deal with the community.
His mask failed to hide his satisfaction this Friday in the Arab city of Um Al Fajem after watching Mohamed Al Wahab Jabarin (66) become the 1,000,000 Israeli vaccinated.
With an average of well over 100,000 vaccinations a day, experts estimate that if there are no last-minute irregularities, Israel could go back to routine, immunized, as of March.
"
We can be the first country to get out of the coronavirus,
" says Netanyahu, who has made mass vaccination his main flag before the fourth elections in two years.
Pfizer and later Moderna are the conservative leader's vaccines to immunize themselves against criticism for their economic and health management in the second wave of the virus and a month after the resumption of the corruption trial.
It was precisely Netanyahu who started the vaccination on December 19, being the first to do it in prime time before the cameras.
The next day, the comprehensive general immunization device took off imposing an unprecedented speed in the world.
In a first phase, only members of the healthcare team and those over 65 years of age
.
However, about 30% of the "lucky ones" already vaccinated do not meet these two criteria.
Several reasons
According to "Our World in Data", 12.59 out of 100 people have been vaccinated in Israel compared to 1.28 in the US or 1.39 in Britain.
But why?
The combination of several factors explains it but given that politics is omnipresent in Israel and especially in the pre-electoral period, the answer depends on the political color of the person who thinks.
From the Likud they praise Netanyahu for being the fastest and most persistent leader in his efforts before big pharmaceuticals to achieve millions of doses in record time.
His detractors, for their part, emphasize the effective public health service, which meets the needs of all citizens, and whose foundations are the work of the left-wing leaders who ruled Israel in its early days as well as the social security policies of the Labor Minister Haim Ramón in the 1990s.
Right and left also coincide in recalling the enthusiastic response of the tired population after
three confinements ordered since March by a pandemic that has killed 3,416 people
and closed tens of thousands of businesses in Israel.
"Leading vaccination around the world is of enormous importance because it saves lives and will give us the possibility to open up the economy," Finance Minister Israel Katz told 103 FM radio.
Asked about the difference with other countries, he highlights that "Netanyahu took the reins of the matter on a personal level and achieved
great success despite the fact that Israel was at the bottom of the line before the companies
."
In fact, he was not even in the queue because he had only signed a contract with Moderna.
The first Israeli contact with Pfizer, following its announcement of the vaccine, was late but very productive.
Without confirming that they have paid twice a dose, Katz simply says that they paid "tens of dollars per dose" and emphasizes that in any case it is worth it because the price is less than what a closing implies.
Daily calls
Vaccination is carried out by hospitals and the four large medical insurers - led by Clalit and Maccab - with a
huge deployment of outpatient clinics that have daily and immediate contact with patients
.
"We have vaccinated more than 250,000 people and this week we will finish the vaccination of the first dose", explains the general director of Maccabi, Raan Saar, assuming that there are sectors in the population that refuse.
"
We make daily calls to convince them of the importance of coming
and receiving the vaccine in one of our 70 centers," he adds.
In one of them, located in Jerusalem, the retired Uzi Levy made an appointment to be vaccinated a few days ago since, as he tells EL MUNDO, "it is not only important for me or my family but at the national level."
Nadav Eyal, a journalist specializing in managing against Covid-19, wonders why Israel will receive between 4 and 5.6 million doses.
According to him, it is not only about the possibility of having paid twice as much as European countries and the US Citing two sources involved in the contacts, he states: "Unlike European leaders, Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein acted under a feeling of urgency but receiving millions of vaccinations is mainly related to the excellent medical mutuals and health system in Israel. "
From his conversations with senior health officials, it appears that
Pfizer was looking for a place to test the capabilities of its vaccine.
And they found Israel.
"They were impressed with the follow-up and relationship of Israeli HMOs with patients as well as their digitization," he concludes.
In its fight against the pandemic, Israel begins 2021 between lights (vaccinations) and shadows (5,000 cases a day on average).
Given the ineffectiveness of the leaky confinement announced a week ago, the head of management, Professor Najman Ash, warns: "
The current wave of infections is worrying. Caution must be exercised precisely now that we see the light
in the tunnel thanks to the successful vaccination campaign ".
Health sources admit to this newspaper that there may be a possible slowdown in vaccination in the middle of the month.
As Eyal writes wryly in Yediot Ajaronot, Israelis who get up every morning to check the water level of Lake Tiberias have now started to check the level of vaccination.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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