Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli Public Affairs Committee (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO via Getty Image)
A country of about 9 million inhabitants, Israel has in recent times taken both significant and symbolic measures against Kovid-19: its mass vaccination program and also what is expected to be the last Israeli epidemic lockdown.
Since vaccination began in mid-December, Israel’s centralized health system has injected 378,000 vaccines. It is the fastest rate in the world among the 43 countries that introduced vaccination – in Brazil, the federal government, which has aligned itself with Israel in foreign policy, has no concrete date to begin vaccination. In recent interviews, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuelo has said that the national campaign is likely to begin in mid-February.
According to a survey by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Israel has the highest proportional vaccination rate: 4.37% of the population has been vaccinated. Leading the rankings are Bahrain (3.15%), United Kingdom (1.18%) and United States (0.59%). About 5 million people from 43 countries have already been vaccinated against Kovid-19; See ranking on this link. Yes
The Israeli government is currently attempting to speed up vaccination 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to open vaccination positions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also wants the daily application fee to be increased to 150,000 doses of Pfizer / Bioentech by 2020.
This allows half the population to be vaccinated by the end of January. According to a Duke University survey, in the United States, Israel has purchased enough doses to vaccinate its entire population and Brazil, so that 63% of the population is vaccinated.
So far, Israel has reported nearly 400,000 cases of Kovid-19 and 3,210 deaths and is experiencing an increase in the number of infections. The outbreak of the epidemic triggered the government on Sunday (27/12), which it hopes will be its last lockdown.
The Israeli Ministry of Health said that the stricter imprisonment, the country’s third, would last for at least three weeks and currently aimed at retrenchment every two weeks.
TKens means “there is a very high probability that this will be our final lockdown,” Sharon Alloyer-Preuss told Army Radio, the executive head of the ministry’s public health services division.
So far, Israel has guaranteed 8 million of the Pfizer-BioNotech vaccine, 6 million from Modern (already in the US authorized) and 10 million from AstraZeneca-Oxford (not yet authorized in any country).
If the plan goes well, Netanyahu said that mass vaccination and infection control could allow the country to suspend the state of emergency in March 2021 that has been present since the onset of the epidemic.
If it works, Netanyahu’s re-election hopes in May 2020 include a few missteps with the premature announcement of victory against the virus, suspending the first lockdown and inconsistent restrictions on people’s speed. Can help State-led economic reforms.
Netanyahu said in a TV speech, “As soon as we are done with this phase, in 30 days we can get out of the coronovirus epidemic, open up the economy and do things that no country can do.”
The government also intends to suspend its population monitoring program using cell phone signals. This strategy has been widely criticized and questioned in court and in Israel’s parliament.
Commentary, fake news and elections
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute released on Sunday (12/27) found that 40.8% of the population rated the government mostly positive for their way of dealing with the health aspects of the crisis, while 32.2% gave a negative rating. In economic aspects, the government estimates were 52.8% negative and 19.7% positive.
Surveys also found that about two-thirds of Israelis intend to vaccinate, which has prompted authorities to pursue a fight against false news about the perceived side effects of the vaccine.
Israel began a coronovirus vaccination campaign with Netanyahu on 12/19 to stop the Bible and the 1969 lunar landing. He had to isolate himself three times during the epidemic to contact infected people, receiving the first injection to encourage others to get vaccinated.
Taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, he told reporters that he had “a strong arm and a stretched arm”, a joke with a description of God’s power in the Book of Exodus. And when he stepped on the moon, Neil Armstrong also pronounced the phrase: “It was a small injection for a man, a big step for the health of all of us.” It can be successful. Get out and get vaccinated! “
The conservative prime minister is running for the March 23 election, which has been called after the fall of his governing coalition this month.
This will be the fourth election in less than a year, a state of unprecedented political deadlock in the country’s history.
In the other three elections, neither Netanyahu nor his rival Benny Gentz were able to form a majority coalition.
Israel’s political system is based on proportional representation, because the parties that get more seats because of the votes they get because of the votes that are held in specific places (constituencies).
This means that governments will always be coalitions, some of which are more fragmented and short-lived.
The last alliance led by Netanyahu took place four years before the April 2019 elections.
His party Likud hopes that the success of the vaccination program and the economy’s resumption will help overcome the political deadlock and ensure that Netanyahu remains in power.
His main rival in the election, 60-year-old Gantz, is a retired general who served as the head of the Israeli armed forces before joining politics as the leader of the Blue and White Center Party.
Another obstacle for Netanyahu is the formal lawsuit against him by the Attorney General of Israel for the crime of corruption, fraud and misuse of trust in three separate cases.
The Prime Minister denied all the allegations, and said he is a victim of a politically motivated “witch hunt”.
71-year-old Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister: he ruled from 1996 to 1999 and now from 2009.
With information from Reuters news agency
