For the first time since the pandemic began, Israel now says that more than a quarter of the worst cases of Covid-19, in which hospitalization is required, are in patients under 60 years of age.
The Israeli Ministry of Health blames a new strain first discovered in the United Kingdom last month.
Dr Itamar Grotto, associate director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health, explained: “This is due to the fact that the new variant in the UK is more infectious, especially among young people and children.”
The news that Israeli hospitals now have a record number of serious cases of Covid has come within 24 hours of Israel starting a “second dose.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first to get the second blow yesterday.
Israel has been praised by the global health community for moving so quickly to vaccination. So far, nearly two million Israelis have had the first blow, out of about 9 million people. Israel has a highly centralized health system, in which everyone must register on a digital system – which makes it easier for the Ministry of Health to organize vaccination across the country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives the second dose of coronavirus vaccine (COVID-19) at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on January 9, 2021.
MIRIAM ALSTER | AFP | Getty Images
Despite its success on the vaccine front, Israel is currently in its third national blockade due to the spread of the virus. Without minimizing concern about the growing percentage of young people hospitalized with serious infections, Grotto, an epidemiologist, points out that almost 70% of Israelis over the age of 60 have now received the first blow, giving them some immunity.
CNBC contributor and former FDA chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb has been following trends in Israel and Europe since the pandemic began a year ago and has used them as a possible model for what could happen in the United States. including the relatively recently discovered variant in the UK.
“If we can get the vaccine implemented, we can probably get rid of it,” Gottlieb said, referring to the more dangerous and faster-spreading strain.
He believes the recent and alarming rise in cases in the US is more to do with travel and vacation meetings, “but the bottom line is that we don’t have a good enough surveillance system to know for sure,” Gottlieb said.
The British variant, he said, only officially accounts for 0.2% of US cases. Gottlieb also warned that US health officials are not yet looking as closely as they should for the increasingly dangerous strain that is wreaking havoc on an overwhelmed South African health system.