A health worker administers a Covid-19 vaccine to Clalit Health Services in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli city of Bnei Brak on January 6, 2021.
JACK GUEZ | AFP | Getty Images
Israel has been praised for deploying the world’s fastest Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
Less than a month after receiving the first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech machine, the country of 9 million has vaccinated about 20% of its population and more than 72% of people over 60 have already obtained the first firing dose. Israel’s health ministry plans to vaccinate 5.2 million of its citizens in March.
Vaccinations, officials say, will help the country gradually emerge from its strict closure and soon with the help of a new document: a Covid-19 vaccination certification, or what is being called the “green leaflet. “.
Essentially, an immunity passport announced by the Ministry of Health earlier this week, the “green leaflet” would be handed out to people who have received two doses of the vaccine.
“The Ministry of Health will issue the vaccine certificate after receiving the second dose,” the Israeli Ministry of Health said on its website. “It will take effect 7 days later, not counting the day the vaccine is given.”
The leaflet would offer vaccinated individuals significant freedom from Covid-19 safety restrictions. People who have it should no longer do the following:
- Isolate yourself after coming in contact with an infected person.
- Go isolated after traveling internationally to a “red zone” of Covid or countries with very high infection rates.
- You need to try them before entering certain tourist areas, known as “green islands”.
However, they should wear a mask in public and maintain social distancing, staying two meters away from others and avoiding social gatherings.
Vaccinated people who had the brochure would be “eligible for relaxed restrictions on destinations around the world,” the ministry’s website said.
Data on vaccination tests would be recorded in the Ministry of Health database and recovered patients who have not been vaccinated are not eligible for the brochure, according to the website.
People line up outside a Covid-19 mass vaccination center in Rabin Sqaure in this aerial photograph taken in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday, January 4, 2020. Israel plans to vaccinate between 70% and 80% of its population in April or May, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has said.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The closure of Israel will begin to rise on January 21, but the rise in cases in recent weeks means it could be extended. The country on Wednesday recorded a record high of 9,997 cases, about double the daily number of cases at the end of December. Israel has had 523,885 confirmed cases of the virus and 3,846 deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
The push for vaccination has faced further obstacles in the country’s Arab and Orthodox Jewish communities, where there is higher vaccine skepticism. Israel has also been attacked by human rights groups for not extending its vaccination campaign to the Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian Authority has reached an agreement with AstraZeneca and hopes to obtain the first doses of this vaccine in March, but has strongly criticized Israel for what it considers to be its responsibility to provide aid. Israeli officials have said this should be the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority.
According to local Israeli news, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with officials on Tuesday on how to gradually lift the blockade and how to introduce the green leaflet. No release date was given.