Highly vaccinated Israel is seeing a dramatic surge in new Covid Cases. Here's why

‘Israel was the first country on Earth to fully vaccinate a majority of its citizens against COVID-19. Now it has one of the world's highest daily infection rates — an average of nearly 7,500 confirmed cases a day, double what it was two weeks ago. Nearly one in every 150 people in Israel today has the virus.

‘What happened, and what can be learned about the vaccine's impact on a highly vaccinated country? Here are six lessons learned — and one looming question for the future of the pandemic.’

1. Immunity from the vaccine dips over time.
2. The delta variant broke through the vaccine's waning protection.
3. If you get infected, being vaccinated helps.
4. Israel's high vaccination rate isn't high enough.
5. Vaccinations are key, but they are not enough.
6. Booster shots offer more protection — if you are one of the world's lucky few to get them.

Looming question: Will we need COVID-19 vaccines every several months? We don't know.

Read here (NPR, August 20, 2021)

Israel and Chile both led on Covid jabs, so why is one back in lockdown?

‘Chile is in the enviable position of having vaccinated faster than any other country in the Americas. More than a third of the country’s 18 million people have received at least one shot of either Pfizer/BioNTech or China’s Sinovac Biotech vaccine. However, cases have soared to the point of overwhelming the health system and strict lockdown measures are back in place.

What went wrong in Chile?

‘The speedy vaccination programme appears to have instilled a false sense of security that led the country to ease restrictions too soon without people appreciating the ongoing risks. The country reopened its borders in November and in January introduced permits for Chileans to go on summer holiday. Without strict controls on people entering the country, and the lack of an efficient contact-tracing system, travellers may have brought infections back into the country that were not picked up.’

Read here (The Guardian, Apr 6, 2021)

Covid-19: Pfizer BioNTech vaccine reduced cases by 94% in Israel, shows peer reviewed study

‘The Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine produces as good results in the “real world” as have been previously documented in randomised trials.

‘A case control study, which has been peer reviewed and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, compared 596 618 people who were newly vaccinated in Israel and matched them to unvaccinated controls.1 Two doses of the mRNA vaccine reduced symptomatic cases by 94%, hospitalisation by 87%, and severe covid-19 by 92%, according to the data from the Clalit Institute for Research which is Israel’s biggest healthcare provider.

‘Researchers recorded the outcomes at three periods: days 14 to 20 after the first dose of vaccine, days 21 through 27 after the first dose, and day 7 after the second dose. In Israel, the second dose of vaccine is given on day 21 in line with the trials and the manufacturer’s recommendation. The UK is leaving a 12 week gap between doses.

‘During a mean follow-up of 15 days, 10 561 infections were documented of which 5996 were symptomatic covid-19 illness, 369 required hospitalisation, 229 were severe cases, and 41 resulted in death.

‘After one dose, during days 14 to 20, the vaccine effectiveness was 57% for symptomatic covid-19, 74% for hospitalisation, and 62% for severe disease. The estimated effectiveness in preventing death from covid-19 was 72% in the two to three weeks after the first dose. There was insufficient data to produce an estimate on the reduction in mortality in those who received two doses.

‘The study took place from 20 December 2020, when Israel’s national vaccination drive was launched, to 1 February 2021. It coincided with Israel’s third and largest wave of coronavirus infection and illness.’

Read here (BMJ, Feb 25, 2021)

• BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in a nationwide mass vaccination setting

Read original study here (New England Journal of Medicine, Feb 24, 2021)

Vaccine hesitancy: Israel's much-publicised vaccination drive hits stumbling blocks

‘Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu, who's made the vaccination campaign a major election issue, warned that more than half a million Israelis over the age of 50 have still not gone to get their jab. "I remind you of the most dramatic piece of data," he said this week. "97% of deaths and 93% of severe cases are in this group." Since the start of the pandemic over 5,400 people have died of COVID-19.

‘Overall, four million Israelis have been vaccinated so far, and about 2,6 million of them have received both shots. Since February, everybody aged over 16 has been called upon to get their shot. "We are trying to see what are the attitudes of people towards the vaccine. There is a tremendous amount of fake news in the public," says Dr. Boaz Lev, head of the vaccine task force at the Ministry of Health in Jerusalem. "This is worrisome, but it will take a while to know what the compliance is."

Read here (DW, Feb 17, 2020)

Israeli study finds 94% drop in symptomatic Covid-19 cases with Pfizer vaccine

‘Israel's largest healthcare provider on Sunday (Oct 14) reported a 94 per cent drop in symptomatic COVID-19 infections among 600,000 people who received two doses of the Pfizer's vaccine in the country's biggest study to date.

‘Health maintenance organization (HMO) Clalit, which covers more than half of all Israelis, said the same group was also 92 per cent less likely to develop severe illness from the virus.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Feb 15, 2021)

As vaccinations lag, Israel combats online misinformation

‘After surging ahead in the race to vaccinate its population against the coronavirus, Israel is blaming online misinformation for a sudden slowdown in the campaign. Now, officials are fighting back.

‘Israel’s Health Ministry, which is spearheading the vaccination efforts, is employing both warnings and incentives as it tries to persuade reluctant holdouts to get immunized. It has beefed up a digital task force to counter spurious claims about the vaccines, while local governments are turning to DJs and free food to lure people to vaccination centers. Concerts and museums could soon be off limits to the unvaccinated.’

Read here (AP, Feb 15, 2021)

Israel is the world’s most vaccinated country. Why are cases rising?

‘Rahav [Galia Rahav, the head of the infectious-disease unit at Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center] attributes the soaring rate of infection in the general population to the weariness of Israelis — on their third or fourth lockdown, depending on how you count — with having their children at home, restrictions limiting them to 1,000 yards from their homes, and of the “politicization” of the ever-shifting rules of confinement.

‘Like many other countries, Israel launched its vaccination campaign with the two most vulnerable sectors: frontline medical workers and citizens over the age of 65. In January, as jubilant grandparents and ambulance drivers got vaccinated, and slowly stopped falling ill, younger and less cautious Israelis flouted caution — turning themselves into spreaders just as the highly infectious British mutation of the virus wafted into the country.’

Read here (New York magazine, Feb 7, 2021)

Experimental cancer drug could help hospitalised coronavirus patients recover within five days, Israeli trial claims

‘An experimental cancer drug could help hospitalised coronavirus recover quicker, researchers believe. Israeli academics today claimed 29 of 30 patients with moderate to severe case of Covid treated with EXO-CD24 made a full recovery within five days. 

‘Further human trials are now needed to prove that the inhaled drug - designed as a medication to fight ovarian cancer - actually works. The study did not compare the drug to a placebo, meaning scientists cannot say for certain that the medicine was behind the patients' speedy recovery.’

Read here (The Mail Online, Feb 5, 2021)

Vaccines are curbing Covid: Data from Israel show drop in infections

‘Close to 90% of people aged 60 and older in the country have received their first dose of Pfizer’s 2-dose vaccine so far. Now, data collected by Israel’s Ministry of Health show that there was a 41% drop in confirmed COVID-19 infections in that age group, and a 31% drop in hospitalizations from mid-January to early February. In comparison, for people aged 59 and younger — of which just more than 30% have been vaccinated — cases dropped by only 12% and hospitalizations by 5% over the same time. The figures are based on analysis of roughly a quarter of a million COVID-19 infections.’

Read here (Nature, Feb 5, 2021)

Seismic change: How Covid-19 altered world events in 2020

‘The year 2020 has been like no other. The coronavirus infected more than 67 million people, impacted 80% of jobs, and placed billions in lockdown... Here are just four political issues, from four continents, which were altered by the pandemic:

1. The US election
2. Hong Kong's protests
3. Ethiopia's Tigray crisis
4. Israel's political crisis’

Read here (BBC, Dec 27, 2020)

Israeli hospital trials super-quick saliva test for Covid-19

‘A newly developed saliva test aims to determine in less than a second whether or not you are infected with the novel coronavirus, Israel’s largest medical center said on Thursday... The center said in an initial clinical trial involving hundreds of patients, the new artificial intelligence-based device identified evidence of the virus in the body at a 95% success rate... The company said they are in the process of getting regulatory approval. Each test costs less than 25 cents and it expects the device will eventually cost less than $200.’

Read here (Reuters, August 13, 2020)

Watch here (South China Morning Post video on Youtube)

Hadassah doctors crack the cause of fatal corona blood clots

‘A research team at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem discovered that patients who form fatal blood clots have an increased level of alpha defensin protein in their blood... They also say they have a way to treat the cause before it’s too late... At least 30% of patients with coronavirus develop blood clots that block the flow of blood to their kidneys, heart and brain, as well as the lungs, according to international research...

‘Dr. Abd Alrauf Higavi said his team are en route to a solution: administering the drug colchicine to coronavirus patients. Colchicine is an approved drug used in the prevention and treatment of gout attacks, caused by too much uric acid in the blood. Higavi said they have completed testing colchicine on mice and found that it successfully inhibited the release of alpha defensin. Now, they are waiting for the necessary approvals to test it on human coronavirus patients.’

Read here (Jerusalem Post, June 16, 2020)