Tuesday, December 29, 2020
115,000 people a day
Israel is the fastest in the world to vaccinate
In Germany, 42,000 people received a vaccination against the coronavirus on the first two days. In much smaller Israel, 115,000 people will receive the life-saving spades on Monday alone. No vaccination campaign in the world is faster.
In Israel, around half a million people have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus in the past ten days. According to the Israeli Ministry of Health, there were 115,000 Israelis on Monday alone. According to Oxford University’s Our World in Data website, almost 5.7 percent of the Israeli population have already received the first of two necessary doses of vaccine. The small country is the world leader in the number of people vaccinated per 100 inhabitants, followed by Bahrain and Great Britain.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, almost 42,000 people were vaccinated in Germany in the first two days. The vaccine is currently in short supply in this country mainly because the EU Commission ordered the vaccine centrally and it is distributed fairly to all 27 EU countries. In addition, so far only the product from Biontech and Pfizer has EU approval. Of these, around 200 million cans should be delivered by September 2021. The EU has ordered up to around 400 million cans each from the manufacturers Astrazeneca, Curevac and Johnson & Johnson. In terms of development, however, these lag behind Biontech and Pfizer.
The Commission defended its procurement strategy: the aim was to have a diverse range from different manufacturers in order to be sure that the Europeans are there for the first deliveries. Some EU states would prefer certain vaccines, said a commission spokesman. One examines how this could be made possible.
High numbers of infections
In Israel, a third partial lockdown came into effect on Sunday afternoon, which is initially supposed to last for two weeks. However, an extension of several weeks is expected. Two days after the start, the number of infections has climbed to its highest level in three months. The Ministry of Health announced that 5449 new cases had been registered within 24 hours – the last time the numbers were so high in early October. In the same period, the German health authorities reported 12,892 new corona infections. However, Germany has around nine times as many inhabitants as Israel.
The Israeli government wants to vaccinate all risk groups as soon as possible and then reopen the economy. From mid-January onwards, “green passports” are to be issued for vaccinated people who have received two doses, which will grant them various freedoms. This includes, for example, the exemption from the quarantine obligation for citizens when entering Israel. Strict entry restrictions still apply to foreigners in Israel.