Israel was the first country in the world last week to offer vaccines to anyone over age 16 but vaccination centers have been half-empty in recent days.
Israel’s Kupot Cholim have been forced to discard thousands of expired vaccine doses after not enough people showed up to be vaccinated.
Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy said that if the vaccination rate continues to drop, the Health Ministry will recommend extending the lockdown, Kan News reported.
Levy also said he is planning on advancing a law banning anyone who has not been vaccinated from working in nursing homes or senior care centers, following reports that a significant number of staff members working in nursing homes have not been vaccinated.
There are currently 400 nursing home residents and 367 staff members in Israel who are positive for the virus. However, according to reports, those who contract the coronavirus after being vaccinated are not developing serious symptoms.
An outbreak of the coronavirus was reported in a nursing home in Belm, Germany last week, with 14 residents testing positive for the virus after having received both Pfizer vaccine doses, but none of the residents experienced life-threatening or serious symptoms. It is unknown how the residents were exposed to the virus.
A senior official at Clalit, Israel’s largest Kupah (HMO), believes that fake news is to blame for the slowdown in the vaccination rate, Ynet reported.
“At the beginning of the [vaccination] campaign we got used to inoculating between 100,000 and 120,000 people per day, and in the last few days we are barely reaching half of those figures,” Kalanit Kaye, the director of Clalit’s vaccination drive, told Ynet.
“We’re prepared, our centers are large and accessible, the process should be pretty simple on the whole, vaccines are being given for free, so I don’t understand the people who aren’t coming to be vaccinated,” Kaye said. “It’s a big mistake.”
“There was greater cooperation among the at-risk populations,” Kaye added. “Right now we’re reaching out to the younger public, and some people don’t understand the vaccine’s importance. Unfortunately, the fake news on social media and in the press is wreaking harm. People aren’t sufficiently afraid of the coronavirus because they aren’t familiar with what it causes.”
Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich (Blue & White) said on Sunday that the low vaccination rate in the Chareidi and Arab sectors is alarming.
“The scope of vaccinations among the Charedi and Arab-Israeli communities within the at-risk population is low and alarming,” she said. “At the same time, there are very few state-funded information campaigns in these sectors.”
”At the next cabinet meeting, I will address the need for a massive information campaign which will provide a response to fake news against vaccinations. No one will be left behind.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
They can’t even give away their experimental full-liability vaccine, so now they want to use a stick instead. Cowardly and also coercive. To boot, herd immunity is their golden cow–no pun intended! It’s an unproven theory.
Their evidence is incomplete, and commercially motivated–creating fake news (about safety and efficacy) and a false narrative. Shemendik.
How dare you anti-vaxxers spoil the biggest medical experiment ever! We may have to consider shooting you!
Mouse 1 asks Mouse 2…”so R U gonna get the vaccine?” “no…they haven’t finished the human trials, yet…”
‘if the vaccination rate continues to drop, the Health Ministry will recommend extending the lockdown’ – they are willing to destroy the economy in order to delivera ‘vaccine’ that does not protect from contagion, either to the vaccinated person or others who come into contact with him.
‘advancing a law banning anyone who has not been vaccinated from working in nursing homes or senior care centers’ – so who (trained, qualified staff) will work in the homes?
‘An outbreak of the coronavirus was reported in a nursing home in Belm, Germany last week, with 14 residents testing positive for the virus after having received both Pfizer vaccine doses’ – and what about the nursing home in Spain, in which ALL residents tested positive, and several have already died.
‘A senior official at Clalit, Israel’s largest Kupah (HMO), believes that fake news is to blame for the slowdown in the vaccination rate’ – WRONG! In most western countries, only a certain percentage ever expressed interest in vaccination. A huge number rejected it outright, and a significant number chose to wait and see. Those Israelis wanting to vaccinate have already done so. Simple.
It’s easy to blame fake news. But despite the usual stupidity coming from ignorant conspiracy mongers, many respected and responsible doctors and researchers have expressed serious reservations about aspects of this vaccine. People are not stupid – or not as stupid as that ‘senior official at Clalit’ appears to think. Given that this ‘vaccine’ does not protect from contagion, but only – hopefully – reduces the symptoms (which is why it is not legally a vaccine at all!) and carries the possibility – albeit remote – of serious side effects, particularly in the elderly, or those with a history of allergic reactions, many people will find sufficient reason in that alone to at least wait and see. So drop your false news claims, and face reality.