Israel leads in vaccination rates - but is 'not out of the woods yet' - INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR JOURNALISM AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

Israel leads in vaccination rates - but is 'not out of the woods yet'

2021-01-07 01:13:26

The top scientist advising Israel’s government on coronavirus has described the country’s early vaccination rate as “amazing” - but warned it will not be enough to overcome the disease for months yet. So far some one-and-a-half-million people - more than 15% of the population, including half of all Israelis aged over 60 - have had a first dose. Israel is a small country with highly centralised patient databases, and it did a quick if reportedly higher-priced deal with Pfizer-BioNtech to get the batches. All that helped. But Professor Ran Balicer, who chairs the team of scientists advising Israel’s government, told the BBC that a surge of infections meant vaccines would not help contain the virus for months yet. "We’re in a fierce winter wave. It’s hitting Israel, it’s hitting many countries in Europe. Vaccines will not help us to contain this in the coming months,” he said. “We’re not out of the woods yet. We’re not even close."