Israel leading the world in vaccination, ambassador shares tips for Massachusetts and U.S.

More than 75% of adult Israelis have had their first coronavirus vaccine as the country leads the world on immunization and Ambassador Meron Reuben, Consul General of Israel to New England, said we can catch up.

“Israel already had its foot in the door before any of the vaccines had even been produced or we even knew that we would reach a vaccine,” Reuben told state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, in a Friday virtual briefing.

Israeli health officials had signed vaccine agreements with different drug companies such as Moderna as early as May 2020, according to Reuben, which greatly aided in the country’s current vaccine success.

Vaccine rollout in Israel has been fast due to digitized medicine that leaves no need for paper vaccination cards, and Reuben said health officials are already starting to talk about the possibility of booster doses in August or September.

The United States lacks a central vaccine distribution channel as many states and territories take on their own sign-ups, but having one central unit in Israel has helped, Reuben said.

“All the vaccinations came into Ben Gurion Airport … and from there in a central warehouse they were sent out to all the different hospitals and clinics,” Reuben said.

Vaccine eligibility for Israel’s population of 9.3 million has been less rigid, starting with people over 70 years old, whereas states such as Massachusetts are still working through strict vaccine phases.

“They found out very quickly that if they sort of were given 10,000 vaccinations to give out at the hospital and they still had 500 vaccinations left, they opened up the vaccination to people over 60 or people over 50,” Reuben said.

Israel’s successful vaccination rollout has also provided the rest of the world with real-life data that has shown the shots are incredibly effective.

The most comprehensive data to date on the use of the Pfizer vaccine came out of Israel and was published earlier this month.

It showed dramatically lower infection rates in vaccinated people and suggested vaccination prevents asymptomatic infection, as previously reported in the Herald.

Vaccination efforts in the United States and in Massachusetts are continuing to ramp up with 136.6 million doses already administered across the country.

Just as things are beginning to reopen here, Israel is a step ahead, “The Israelis are beginning to go back to basketball games and to football games,” as well as theater and restaurants, Reuben said.

Masks, however, are here to stay and will likely be the last public health measure to disappear from pandemic society, health experts have said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3wc3FPN