Health officials and politicians around the world have been stunned by Israel’s lightning-fast vaccination drive, the fastest in the world.

The New York Times, in an article published on Friday entitled: How Israel Became A World Leader In Vaccinating Against COVID-19, stated: “More than 10 percent of Israel’s population has received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, a rate that has far outstripped the rest of the world and buoyed the battered domestic image of the country’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, at a critical juncture.”

“Israel’s heavily digitized, community-based health system — all citizens, by law, must register with one of the country’s four H.M.O.s — and its centralized government has proved adept at orchestrating a national inoculation campaign, according to Israeli health experts,” the Times continued.

“The health minister, Yuli Edelstein, said in an interview on Friday that Israel had entered into negotiations with drugmakers as an “early bird,” and that the companies were interested in supplying Israel because of its H.M.O.s’ reputation for efficiency and gathering reliable data. ‘We are leading the world race thanks to our early preparations,’ he said.”

“Prime Minister [Netanyahu] the prime minister has won praise for his efforts even from some longtime critics, after being widely blamed for mishandling the crisis last year.”

“’We can’t blame Netanyahu for all of Israel’s ills — correctly, most of the time — and then ignore his contribution when something works,’ wrote Gideon Levy, a columnist for the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper this week.”

The Times article continued to describe the reluctance of the Arab sector to be vaccinated, adding that “Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, was also seen as a population that might resist vaccinations. But those initial fears appear to have dissipated.”

“Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein, a leading ultra-Orthodox authority in Jewish law, issued a public ruling after consulting with Professor Balicer saying that any dangers posed by the vaccine were negligible compared with the dangers of the virus. Several important figures in the community were photographed getting the vaccine.”

The BBC article, published on Motzei Shabbos, was entitled: Israel Leads Vaccine Race With 12% Given Jab.” The article, much shorter and less comprehensive than the NYT article, stated that Israel advanced ahead other countries by “securing supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine following negotiations early on in the pandemic. It is contacting people with priority access to the vaccine through its health care system – by law all Israelis must register with a recognized health care provider.”

Other countries around the world have also been praising Israel, with several examples provided by i24News. “This is how thousands of people get inoculated daily,” the broadcaster on the French television news show Télématin stated outside a Kupot Cholim clinic in Jerusalem. “Israel is winning against the coronavirus.”

The German Süddeutsche newspaper published an article entitled Israel Vaccinates At Record Speed, stating that not only did Israel begin its vaccination campaign at record speed but it even increased the pace along the way. “It appears that Israel will be the first one to emerge from the pandemic. It will most likely become the example of vaccination initiatives worldwide.”

Germany’s neighbor Austria scheduled a conference with Israel to glean knowledge about Israel’s successful vaccination campaign.

In India, the Hindustan Times published an article stating that “the world is currently looking at Israel and learning from it.” The article also mentioned Israel’s efforts to fight against Facebook groups spreading rumors and conspiracy theories about the vaccine.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)