Israel may be well-positioned to achieve herd immunity following the current ‘Omicron’ wave, a former senior health official said Monday.
Prof. Hezy Levy, former director-general of Israel’s Health Ministry, told Reshet Bet Monday morning that by the end of the current wave of outbreaks, most Israelis will have been either vaccinated against COVID, or will have natural immunity to the virus.
“By the end of this wave, most Israelis will either have recovered or have been vaccinated. We see that in South Africa, the infections reached a peak, but now they have begun to drop off.”
Vaccination rates in South Africa remain far lower than in the West, with just over a quarter of South Africans fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.
Yet the number of new cases reported in South Africa has declined dramatically after peaking on December 12th, when the country reported an all-time high of 37,875 new cases diagnosed in a single day. By Sunday, the number of new cases fell to just 4,357.
Despite the intensity of the wave, South Africa did not record a substantial increase in COVID-related deaths, the latest indication that the Omicron variant – which became the dominant strain in South Africa by the beginning of December – is far less virulent than previous variants.
Turning to Israel’s recently launched vaccination campaign offering a fourth dose of the jab to seniors and healthcare workers, Levy, said the vaccine “reduces serious infection and hospitalizations in comparison to the Delta variant.”
“There is some increase in the numbers, but the number of seriously ill is lower, and is primarily among the unvaccinated.”