Israel has vaccinated nearly 6% of its population and fifth of of over-60s, cutting total mortality risk by 16%. But it’s still missing the target.
A little vaccine goes a long way
Coronavirus vaccination programmes are starting all over the world, following the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine; Moderna’s vaccine is also likely to be approved within days. Mass vaccination programmes are complicated logistical feats. The right amount of vaccine needs to be delivered to the right places at the right times, stored (the Pfizer vaccine needs […]
Excess deaths: Israel’s grim virus toll
As Israel slowly exits its second lockdown, there hasn’t really been time to take stock of how bad things got. One of the common claims of the conspiracy theorists and deniers is that the coronavirus isn’t really killing anyone, or at least not nearly as many people as the official figures claim. These people say […]
Israel’s Second Lockdown Worked
Six weeks after Israel went into a second lockdown, and 10 days after the most significant restrictions were lifted, it really looks like a success. Cases Daily coronavirus cases peaked about 12 days after the lockdown, and then fell rapidly. As the number of daily cases fell, so did testing. This is actually expected, because […]
Schools, Lockdowns and Limbo
Israel’s government appeared to have learnt the key lesson of the country’s second coronavirus wave: open things slowly. Slowly enough to see the impact of each decision in the hope that infection rates keep dropping, and slowly enough to stop or reverse any relaxation of the rules before things spiral out of control again and […]