650,000 Israelis have already received their first of two doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as of Wednesday morning.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced today that, “152,000 people were vaccinated yesterday – we’re headed for a million people vaccinated. This is how we’re going to beat the epidemic.”
5,583 people were diagnosed with coronavirus in the last 24 hours, and the death toll has risen to 3,286 people. 368,925 people have recovered from the virus since the epidemic’s outbreak, and 39,467 active patients remain nationwide, 623 of whom are in serious condition.
Meanwhile, the UK’s drugs regulator has approved AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use, a vaccine developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford.
Commentator Nadav Eyal explained why despite the authorization, AstraZeneca’s vaccine will likely not be used in Israel for a while to come. “The trials were not conducted well,” he wrote. “The estimates were not confirmed, and the efficacy of the vaccine appears to be less than that of the vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna. There are other considerations too – here in Israel, we’ll be waiting for the FDA to grant its approval – we won’t suffice with the UK’s regulator.”
Speaking on Radio Kol Berama on Wednesday, the government’s coronavirus project manager, Professor Nachman Ash, was far less optimistic in his assessment of the situation.
“The entrance of infected people into the country from abroad is very worrying,” he said, “primarily due to concerns about the latest mutation found [in several countries around the world, and mainly in the UK]. That’s why we’re taking steps to ensure that those entering from abroad go straight to [quarantine] hotels. We are still trying to enforce coronavirus testing at Ben Gurion airport, prior to arrivals being sent to home quarantine.”
Ash added that the current lockdown “is not like the previous ones, with schools allowed to remain open and plenty of people seen on the streets. I am incredibly frustrated at the fact that we have apparently not succeeded in convincing MKs of the necessity of getting infection rates down.”
Ash might have added that he and his fellow professionals have also not succeeded in persuading a large proportion of the general public that the current lockdown is either necessary or helpful, with public compliance far lower than during the previous two lockdowns. With elections not far off, brave is the politician who will dare to propose highly unpopular policies, despite the Health Ministry’s statistics.