LONDON – Israel leads the world from afar when it comes to vaccinating its population against COVID-19. Even though the country is facing high rates of infection and is blocked, last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted: “We will be the first country in the world to come out of the coronavirus.”
More than 20% of its population of 9.29 million has so far received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which to date far exceeds vaccination rates in all other countries of the world.
Since approving the vaccine, the country has moved rapidly, organizing its emergency resources to great effect, yet the vaccination program – led by Netanyahu itself – is not without controversy, as the 5 million Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank have were excluded from launch.
Emergency legs
Israel has both a strong standardized public health system and a relatively small population. Meanwhile, the US has 64 health jurisdictions – each with its own rules and regulations – and the best per capita vaccination rates have been observed in areas with smaller populations.
Even so, the vaccination rate in Israel is staggering. Netanyahu announced on January 10 the goal of increasing the rate of vaccinations to 170,000 daily and said that 72% of people over the age of 60 received the first dose. By March, he said, the government will “bring transport after transport and complete the vaccination of the population over the age of 16 in Israel.” Authorities will then try to start vaccinating under the age of 16 if research shows it is safe. As of Friday morning, 170,000 Israelis had received a second booster shot – part of the two-shot regime that the Pfizer vaccine requires.
“Right now we are in a strong race between two events: the spread of the disease and the distribution of vaccines,” Netanyahu said. “We are ahead of the world in vaccines with the millions of vaccines we have brought.”
Israeli health care agents moved quickly to vaccinate such a large number in a short period of time.
While most vaccinations take place outside hospitals, specialized center staff continue to work both to vaccinate the population and to treat the constant influx of coronavirus patients.
At the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, which has been administering the vaccines for some time, the staff is very prepared to vaccinate as many as possible.
“It’s like a mission, I give injections to my friends and colleagues,” Vicky Greenberg, chief nurse at the hospital’s intensive care unit, told ABC News.
“I really hope that in a few months we will be able to celebrate Pesach (Easter) with our families, not in Zoom as we did last year. I have to get married, so I have to do it in May. It should work by May. Patient after patient for eight, nine hours a day. ”
Prof. Joseph Klausner, head of surgery at Ichilov Hospital, described the early success of Israel’s early vaccination program as a “combined effort.”
“On the one hand, it is a relatively small community compared to [United] States, for example, so it is much easier to get there, to reach the population and to receive treatment there. But certainly some efforts have been made to achieve this. ”
Dr. Dalit Salzer, another doctor at the hospital, told ABC News that she was “proud and excited” to be part of the early vaccination efforts at the start of a 26-hour shift.
The current CEO of the hospital is also the former Israeli commissioner COVID, Prof. Ronni Ganzu, who saw the challenges of leading a response to coronavirus at national and local level. Both a strong public health system and numerous experiences of political and military crisis have helped mobilize the resources needed to vaccinate so quickly.
“We understand that in the event of a disaster, in an emergency, we have very little time to act,” Ganzu told ABC News. “And that’s what we’re really used to doing. We are trained to do this, the energy they want to do to win the war, [we are] eager to offer the vaccine to as many Israelis as possible. “
Offers and data
The accelerated vaccination program is taking place at a time when the country is facing the highest COVID-19 infection and mortality rates since the beginning of the pandemic. The country is closed until January 21, even while conducting mass vaccinations, with 3,892 coronavirus deaths and 533,026 confirmed cases since Friday, according to the Ministry of Health.
The controversial Israeli prime minister has been at the forefront and center of the success of the vaccination program. He was the first Israeli to receive a jab and, on the weekend, with the media present, he received the second. Netanyahu boasted of a close relationship with Pfizer’s president and CEO Albert Courla, whom he described as a “friend.”
The pair have had 17 talks since January 17, Netanyahu said last Sunday. “Israel will share with Pfizer and the world the statistics that will help develop strategies to defeat the coronavirus,” as part of the agreement, Netanyahu said earlier this month.
“Pfizer and the Israeli Ministry of Health (MoH) have reached a collaboration agreement to study the real impact of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” a Pfizer spokesman told ABC News.
“This project will collect real-world epidemiological information that will allow real-time monitoring of the epidemic in Israel and assess the potential of a vaccination program using the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to trigger indirect protection and stop viral transmission.
“While this project is taking place in Israel, the ideas obtained will be applicable worldwide and we anticipate that it will allow governments to maximize the impact of their vaccination campaigns on public health, determine the potential immunization rates needed to stop transmission and, in finally, to contribute to the completion of the global COVID-19 pandemic. ”
A report from Politico claimed that an official briefing by officials on January 5 suggested that Israel paid Pfizer $ 30 per person, more than what other countries paid. A report by an Israeli broadcaster claimed that the country spent $ 47 per person or $ 23.50 per dose, according to the Times of Israel.
This is more than the US government paid for the initial doses of 100 million, $ 1.9 billion, which amounts to $ 19 per dose and $ 38 per person. The EU has agreed to pay Pfizer / BioNTech $ 18.50 per dose or $ 37 per person, according to Reuters.
“To carry out this project, the Israeli Ministry of Health will receive vaccine doses at a previously agreed price (which remains confidential),” a Pfizer spokesman said.
Politics and Palestine
Israel’s vaccination policy has condemned human rights groups and the Palestinian National Authority, as the implementation does not include the more than 5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, many of whom travel to Israel for work.
The country vaccinates Israeli residents in West Bank settlements, but not Palestinians living there or in Gaza. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, said the exclusion meant that Israel “ignored its obligations” as an occupying force under international law and “exposed Israel’s institutionalized discrimination”.
There have been high rates of infections and deaths in the West Bank and Gaza, which are currently in a short-term deadlock, and Amnesty has called on Israel to “ensure that vaccines are provided equally to Palestinians living under their control.”
“We condemn the racism of the occupying state, which boasts of the speed of vaccination of its citizens and neglecting the legal responsibility to provide vaccines to the employed,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said this month.
But this, in the current climate, is unlikely to happen. Yuli Edelstein, the Israeli Minister of Health, said the priority was to vaccinate as many Israelis as possible before considering any shortcomings on the part of the Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority is in negotiations with several other companies to procure its own vaccines. The Russian direct investment fund announced that the Russian vaccine against coronavirus Sputnik V has been registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Vaccine delivery will begin in February, according to Health Minister Mai Kailleh.
“I think there are definitely moral and legal obligations,” Yossi Mekelberg, a professor of international relations and a senior senior at the Chatham House think tank, told ABC News. “Many of them work in Israel or in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. He moves from one place to another. But it’s not based on Netanyahu’s basis and it probably won’t happen. “
Meanwhile, doctors in Gaza, severely affected by the first wave and now fearing the rise of a second, say the need for a vaccine is as acute as ever.
“We can say that we are working in a comfortable situation, we are no longer under pressure and I hope that this will continue, because there is always the fear of a second wave and it is usually an aggressive one,” said Dr. Mohammed El Sheek. Ali, the head of the Covid department at the European Hospital in Gaza, told ABC News. “We need a vaccine and, as soon as possible, because we are facing a difficult situation in Gaza, we are short of resources.”
Bruno Nota, Nasser Atta and Sohel Uddin of ABC News contributed to this report.