Elife Dan Senor and Saul Singer called Israel the ‘Start Up Nation’ years ago because of its excessively large number of technology companies and NASDAQ stocks. Make room for the vaccination nation.
Israel leads the world in COVID-19 vaccinations. It has already vaccinated nearly a quarter of its population, including 75 percent of the population most at risk, people older than 60 years. 24.5 doses per 100 people were administered, which is almost double the second best country (the United Arab Emirates) and about 8 times as many people per capita as in the US and the UK The per capita vaccination rate of Israel is 24 times that of the normally efficient Germans and 50 times better than the world average. Only three other countries in the world – the US, China and the UK – have administered more vaccines.
Why is Israel doing so much better than anyone else? Israel’s small size simplifies logistics. But there are other factors as well.
First, unlike US states, which administered only about a third of the doses they received, Israel made sure it was ready to use the stock. Officials are setting up large vaccination centers and mobile units in advance. They reached out to minority groups, such as the ultra-Orthodox and Arab citizens, before starting to encourage the uptake of vaccines. Israel began vaccinations in mid-December, vaccinating more than 150,000 people a day by the end of the month.
Second, Israel acquired a large inventory of Pfizer by promising to provide comprehensive safety and effectiveness data. Israel has a nationwide, computerized health database that can provide anonymous results to all citizens, allowing Pfizer to use the nearly nine million country as a real-time laboratory. In return, Pfizer promised to provide enough doses by the end of March to get every Israeli older than 16 years vaccinated. In addition, Israel was the first country outside North America to approve the Moderna vaccine and purchased six million doses. Israel has also paid premium prices – a good investment to end the economic devastation caused by pandemics.
Needless to say, Israel is good at planning and executing during emergencies. Senor and Singer identified the universal military service as promoting Israelis’ ingenuity and willingness to take the initiative to improve existing systems. Pfizer packs the vaccine in 1,000-dose trays, which must be used within a short time after thawing due to the need for ultra-cold storage. The large number of doses limits vaccinations to centers that can set up a large number of recipients. Israel has determined how the pickups can be repackaged in smaller doses to improve the flexibility to deliver doses to a wider range of suppliers and less populated places.
Israelis are also prepared to seize established authority. The multi-dose Pfizer vaccine vials are authorized to contain five doses. As a result, many U.S. vaccinators discarded the remaining vaccine after administering five doses, even if it was sufficient to give one or two extra doses, for fear that they would go wrong with the FDA instructions (the FDA would eventually clarified that it is acceptable to use every available full dose). In contrast, Israelis were willing to use the sixth and seventh doses of windfall.
U.S. vaccinators have been reluctant to give remaining doses to people outside the government’s priority order – New York Governor Cuomo has promised large fines for the vaccine out of order – which resulted in doses being discarded at the end of the day. . Israeli suppliers vaccinated outside the guidelines from the beginning of the day to avoid valuable doses.
Finally, the Israelites’ willingness to assemble and treat the pandemic as if it were a war and the successful implementation of the government, changed the initial reluctance of the Israelites to be vaccinated. Prime Minister Netanyahu set an example by being the first Israelite to be vaccinated.
The prophet Isaiah said that Israel would function as “a light to the nations” and give spiritual and moral guidance to the world. Today’s Israel, the Start-Up Nation, can also provide technological and practical guidance.