Israel boosts itself from the fourth wave – a role model for Germany?

Fight against pandemic
Israel has boosted itself out of the fourth wave – a role model for Germany?

A line has formed outside a pop-up vaccination center in West Jerusalem. “I’m here to get my third dose – it’s really important so that Israel can open up,” student Leah Powell tells the “Deutsche Welle“Masks are still required in some places, but it feels like real life is coming back.”

One can only dream of this feeling in Germany at the moment. While the number of infections is rising massively in this country, Israel has already seen the fourth wave. In September, the Israeli Ministry of Health reported more than 11,000 new infections per day, more than ever since the beginning of the pandemic. Last week, the daily number of infections was only around 150. After Israel had closed itself off almost completely for around a year and a half, the country is now even reopening its borders to vaccinated people.

What happened?

Israel’s secret of success: when you call, booster

At the beginning of the year, Israel was hailed as the world vaccination champion. The country quickly launched its vaccination campaign at the end of 2020 and implemented it effectively. The shock was all the greater when the particularly contagious Delta variant spread in the summer and the number of infections shot up again. In addition, Israeli health experts found that the protective effect of the Pfizer / Biontech vaccine waned significantly after a few months.

At the advice of the experts, the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett therefore decided in July to be the first country in the world to start booster vaccinations. After older citizens were initially prioritized, four million people have now been third-vaccinated – almost half of the population. “There is no question that the third vaccine, the booster, saved Israel,” said epidemiologist Gabriel Barbash, one of the country’s top health experts, who “Deutsche Welle“I think life will be normal again, but to a new normal.”

The vaccination campaign is organized by the four major health insurance companies in the country. In order to motivate people to take booster vaccinations, the employees of some health insurers even use it even to the listener: “Hello, I’m calling to make your appointment for your third vaccination.”

But even in Israel, the third round of vaccination does not proceed silently. Although vaccination skepticism is not as widespread in the Jewish state as in Germany or some Eastern European countries, many had still hoped that the corona spook would end with the first two vaccinations.

Those who do not get vaccinated are excluded

Dissatisfaction grew particularly when the government decided that only those who had already received the third dose – or whose second vaccination was less than six months ago – are considered fully vaccinated. Only these people can renew the so-called Green Pass, which grants access to restaurants, cinemas, fitness studios and museums. The government is thus spoiled for choice: Those who do not allow themselves to be boosted will be excluded from a large part of public life.

A small but vocal minority is resisting the growing pressure on the unvaccinated. In Tel Aviv and other cities there are small demonstrations against the government’s vaccination policy on Saturday evenings. Nevertheless, the clear majority of the population followed Bennett’s new vaccination call – albeit with grinding teeth. The freedom to do everything again is more difficult for most than to resist. But the problem remains those who have not yet been vaccinated – especially ultra-orthodox Jews and Arab Israelis. The vaccination rate has been stuck at just over 60 percent for months.

That could change soon, however: on Monday the government released the Biontech vaccine for children aged five and over, and according to media reports, a good million five to eleven year olds could then receive the vaccine. According to the newspaper “Haaretz”, almost one in eight of the country’s relatively young population falls into this age group, which is why many experts believe that achieving herd immunity without vaccinated children is impossible.

Israel as a “laboratory for the world”

A recent study from Israel also gives hope, which shows that the effectiveness of a double vaccination with the booster increases to 93 percent. A team of researchers compared two groups of the same size, one of which had already received its third vaccination, while the other had received the second vaccination at least five months ago. Of the 1.5 million people who were included in the study, 231 of those who had been vaccinated twice had to be hospitalized for Covid, compared with just 29 of those who were three times vaccinated.The Lancet” released.

“In Israel, with our vaccination rate, we are a kind of laboratory for the whole world. We experience what the world is experiencing, as in the USA and Europe, earlier than other countries,” explains the epidemiologist Barbash. How long the immunity of the third vaccination lasts is currently being investigated in real-time studies.

If Germany wants to get through the fourth wave even roughly as lightly, it should begin to learn the lessons from Israel’s experience as soon as possible: firstly, to massively increase the speed of booster vaccinations and secondly, to massively increase the pressure on unvaccinated people.

Perhaps it will soon feel like “real life is coming back” in this country too.

Sources: “German wave“,”Southgerman newspaper“,”Daily mirror“,”The Lancet“, with DPA