Israel is moving towards normalcy at its full potential. More than half of the population has received at least one first vaccine against Corona. Roughly five million of the nine million residents were fully vaccinated. Overall, 85 percent of all children over the age of 16 either contracted the disease or were vaccinated and thus were vaccinated.
The numbers make the experts confident, too. On Monday, biologist Iran Segal of the Weizmann Institute posted on Twitter: “At least for now, vaccines have practically wiped out Covid-19 from Israel.”
The scientist previously published an infographic showing the relationship between the vaccination campaign, new infections, hospitalizations and deaths. Since mid-January, the number of infections has decreased by 98 percent, the number of seriously ill people has decreased by 93 percent, and the number of deaths has decreased by 87 percent.
Recently, 150 new infections were recorded every day. For comparison: In Switzerland, more than 2,000 cases were reported nearly daily in April.
The number of critically ill Corona patients has decreased to about 200. At the end of January, there were still about 1,200 of them in Israel.
Mask requirements have been raised abroad
After a good year of the start of the Corona pandemic, the requirement to wear an outdoor mask has been canceled. The obligation continues to apply in closed spaces used by the public. However, experts assume that, due to the sharp decrease in the number of infections, it could also be raised within a month.
For the first time in a year, many schools have fully reopened. Children and teens learn again in class units rather than in small groups. However, in the classroom, a mask is required.
Numbers are dropping thanks to vaccination
Segal and his colleagues are convinced that it is vaccination, not the strict lockdown in January, that is responsible for the success of fighting the epidemic.
According to their study published in Nature shop It emerged that, after the start of the vaccination campaign, the number of cases and hospitalizations decreased in the older age groups. Where the first spades were distributed. Only later, the infection also decreased among the youngest – according to the vaccination sequence.
Researchers note that no such pattern was observed during the previous shutdown in September.
Is the South African alternative frustrates the bill?
Can anything go wrong now? How N-TV Writes, success can be slowed down by different virus variants. Researcher Adi Stern of Tel Aviv University found in his study that the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine was somewhat less effective against the South African variant (B.1.351). However, this is not a cause for concern.
Stern and colleagues emphasize that the South African alternative is rarely found in Israel, so the efficacy is definitely high.
There is no infection two weeks after the vaccination
Later, Stern also published an update to the study. None of the people who were fully vaccinated had tested positive for the virus two weeks after or even after the second dose. “This may mean that there is a short period of susceptibility to infection with B.1.351 that is limited to the two weeks following the second dose,” Stern said.
Other analyzes also give the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine good marks. A clinical study of 12,000 people showed that the vaccine is protected from the British and South African variants. Even at least six months after the second dose.
And in another study from Israel, researchers came to the conclusion that the vaccine provides a very high level of protection – 94 percent – against asymptomatic infections. According to the data, the vaccine was also 97 percent effective in preventing symptomatic disease, serious illness, and death. (Man / SDA)
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