The first vaccinations against Israel Covid-19 were light. Now comes the hard part.

“I’m healthy, my body knows how to overcome it,” said Tamir Hefetz, 46, one of the organizers of the anti-vaccine demonstration. “The green passport is terrible.”

In the late stages of its vaccination process, Israel is trying to persuade resistance to get vaccinated before new variants of the coronavirus raise the level of infection again, causing further damage to the country’s economy.

But the tight pockets of resistance facing the Israeli government indicate the struggles that await many Western countries, including the United States, once they have inoculated much of their populations.

“The further you go, the more difficult it becomes,” Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said in an interview. “It’s just like running a marathon.”

With more than 55% of its population receiving at least one blow – and more than 46% with two – Israel’s vaccination campaign has reached a critical stage. After reaching a high of more than 230,000 photos a day in mid-January, the launch of the vaccine has slowed in recent weeks to about 100,000 a day.

Experts warn that in order for Israel to reach a certain level of immunity and detection that will allow it to emerge from repeated cycles of economic openings and blockades, that pace must accelerate.

Gili Regev, director of the epidemiology division at Sheba Medical Center, said Israel would not achieve immunity of the British-style herd until 80 percent of the population was vaccinated, now impossible until children under 16 could fire. Before that, she said, just inoculating as many people over the age of 16 as possible would improve the outlook.

“The more people who get vaccinated, the safer it is for everyone,” she said.

Dr. Regev estimates that only about 4% of Israelis who are offered a vaccine refuse it, but there are many others who have not bothered to receive the shot, despite individual cities that have set up mobile inoculation sites and vaccination campaigns. public awareness. The Israeli government has also developed an elaborate green passport-based incentive system that allows vaccinated people to access fitness, dining and entertainment options, which are largely closed during successive blockades and are still largely closed to those. unvaccinated.

Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, Israeli health care organizations have targeted all eligible people with text messages, phone calls and e-mails to attract them to vaccination sites.

Such calls are still heard for people like Katy Drabkin in Holon, a city south of Tel Aviv. Recently, he rode his bicycle to a vaccination center in the city and then urged several individuals in line not to take pictures. She does not trust the usual media reports about vaccines and does not feel discriminated against for refusing a shot.

“What is happening now is that our media belongs to the institution, which belongs to people with a personal interest,” she said. “So now I convince everyone that there is a dangerous pandemic.”

Shiri, 45, who took part in the Tel Aviv anti-vaccine demonstration but refused to give his last name because he feared repercussions on his business, doubts he deserves a shot. She brought her husband and three children to pass the vaccine stickers to passers-by.

“I’m not sure if this is safe or working,” she said, referring to the vaccine.

Israel initially did well during the first wave of the pandemic, but experienced a disabling second wave, after reopening too quickly during the summer, forcing a second blockade. The country was blocked again in December, after the spread of the more contagious British version of the virus caused a third wave that was the worst of all. To date, more than 6,000 people have died from Covid-19, and the shutdowns have cost the Israeli economy billions of dollars.

The pro-vaccine campaign influences some obstacles. Amos Yekutiel, from Jerusalem, said he did not intend to get vaccinated, but he did so after passing a vaccination site that had been set up at a neighborhood bar. His friends who warned him that he could not visit until he was vaccinated pushed the 36-year-old consultant through the door.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I just didn’t think I needed him,” he said. Now that he has changed his mind, he is excited to go to restaurants and attend a group dinner. “It gives you more freedom.”

In order to further influence skeptics, the Israeli Ministry of Health is also pursuing disinformation about vaccines, which is spread mainly on social networks. Health officials are working with the Israeli Ministry of Justice to remove false information about vaccines and also post information to reveal vaccine myths.

In Jerusalem, two religious students said that even though many of their friends had urged them not to receive the vaccine, they eventually continued after volunteering to ask doctors and physicians questions about how it works and in consultation with their parents.

“[At first] we looked at each other and said “of course not,” said 21-year-old Yaakov Silverman, who was eating ice cream when a volunteer found him and his friend and suggested they vaccinate at a nearby bar. “But we asked a few questions … and we talked about it and said, ‘Why don’t we do it?'”

—Dov Lieber of Tel Aviv contributed to this article.