Israel has one of the highest vaccinated populations across the world and yet it is seeing a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. This suggests that vaccination alone maybe insufficient to fight the coronavirus. The surge due to the spread of the delta variant in Israel has increased the number of infections. However, as seen in other parts of the world, including the U.S., the severity of infection is less among those who have been vaccinated and fatalities are almost negligible in number.
There are a huge number of reasons why people in Israel are getting infected with COVID-19, although a huge number of its population is fully vaccinated. Some of the reasons are as follows:
- The efficacy of vaccines decrease over a period of time. Many of the cases seen among the vaccinated occurred five months or later after the first dose.
- The delta variant broke through the defenses offered by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which was administered in Israel.
- Israelis traveled abroad during the summer vacations and brought home the infection.
- Israel has a fairly huge young population, many of whom haven’t taken the shots and some of whom are ineligible for vaccines as they are too young.
- Vaccinations don’t seem to be enough as variants evolve when the coronavirus mutates, and boosters are needed.
The nation is trying to tackle the huge surge of COVID-19 cases by giving a large number of its population booster shots. It was not only the first nation to start giving additional doses or the third dose of the vaccine but has made it available for those who are above the age of 40.
Since, Israel was among the first few nations to rollout the vaccines, it also make sense that it needs to give booster shots first, considering the fact that the efficacy of the vaccine falls over a period of time.
Some experts now believe that vaccines cannot be the only solution to prevent COVID-19. Antivirals, good hygiene and perhaps wearing masks and social distancing in certain locations may just become as important as booster shots.
