Israel was able to inoculate more than half of the population in the spring, and in June the feeling of a definitive end to the pandemic prevailed. But then the epidemic returned in style. They did not expect the fourth wave due to the high vaccination rate, said Arnon Afek, the deputy director of the Tel Ha-Shomer hospital. The number of seriously ill people with covid has grown from almost zero to seven hundred.
In August, the crisis escalated. At the turn of August and September, Israel apparently narrowly avoided the lockdown. The approximate limit for its launch was 700 people with covid in intensive care units.
This time without a lockdown
“The first waves of coronavirus brought us two hundred days of lockdowns. All this at the cost of serious impacts on our children and pupils and great economic damage. We do not want to experience it again, “said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
So they preferred to respond with a new vaccination campaign. The proportion of people with two doses rose from 59 to 65 percent, but two doses were not enough. People vaccinated at the beginning of the year lost protection. Therefore, a booster dose was started on a large scale.
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Statistics showed a dramatic difference. For every 100,000 unvaccinated seniors, there were more than 170 cases of severe covid in September. Only six cases in fully vaccinated people. The third dose has meanwhile become a condition for the renewal of the green passport. It allows access to restaurants or cultural events.
In October, the pandemic began to subside. But victory is not just about joy. The fourth wave has claimed at least sixteen hundred lives so far and shattered the illusion of what the dot behind the pandemic looks like.
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