From the "Israeli miracle" to the "Fourth Wave"

Israel plans to allow individual tourists from November 1. However, this will not affect the Russians at this stage. Why?

Following the example of other countries, at the beginning of the epidemic, Israel closed the borders to the non -citizens. Only now, a year and a half later, it was decided to restart tourism.

Since mid -September, a pilot project has been operating on the entry of organized tourist groups from countries with a tolerant epidemiological situation: the USA, Mexico, Slovakia and others. This prepared the ground for the entry of tourists individually. It is expected that guests from 40 states will be the first to come with whom the relevant agreements were concluded, including from 27 countries of the European Union.

An important detail - only those who have made a second vaccine from coronavirus for the last six months or vaccinated three times will be able to enter the territory of the Jewish state.

It is expected that from November 21, Israel will be able to visit citizens of those countries with whom visa -free agreements have been signed. Such an agreement exists with Russia, but there is an obstacle - Israel recognizes the same vaccines as WHO, and “satellite V” is still not among them.

Moreover, in fact, this recognition has already taken place. Arriving in Israel, the Israelis living in Russia, vaccinated by the Russian vaccine, hand over a serological test. He shows them the presence of antibodies. This gives the grounds for the Israeli healthcare system to recognize them vaccinated and/or ill.

This scheme is trying to formalize the Minister of Tourism of Israel, Konstantin Redvozov, so that in this way the Russians can fly to the Holy Land, and the Israelis to visit Russia. In September, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel Yair Lapid and Konstantin Razvozov flew to Moscow, and this was one of the topics of the negotiations. They met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the head of Rosturism Zarina Doguzova.

Caution optimism

For the past one and a half months, the incidence rates in Israel are consistently reduced. The Ministry of Health talk about the completion of the fourth wave of the epidemic.

At the same time, the general director of the Ministry of Health, Professor Nakhman Ash, announced that the demand for wearing a mask in a closed public and public transport will remain in force at least until the end of winter. This is due to the fears that the “MU” strain can penetrate into Israel, leading to the next fifth wave of incidence in winter.

Since October 3, the revaccination of the third, "Boster", the dose has become a prerequisite for the possession of a certificate of vaccination in Israel. Thus, now only the one who has been vaccinated is considered completely vaccinated. Among the adult population there are already more than 56 percent. If there were two vaccinations and the second has passed since the time of more than six months, the vaccination certificate is canceled.

The government modified the Green Standard - the rules for admission to public institutions. At the entrance, it is necessary to present a “green pass” - a vaccination certificate/recovery certificate. Those who are not vaccinated can get a temporary pass by presenting a negative result of the PCR test to coronavirus (valid 72 hours), or an express test for antigen (valid 24 hours).

Meanwhile, in the Ministry of Health - still quiet - they begin to say that later it may be necessary to vaccinate the population for the fourth time.

Professor ASH reassures: "Protection provided by the" Buster "vaccine will obviously act longer than six months."

There will be no more quarantines

Key decisions in the fight against the epidemic in Israel are making a special cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister Naphty Bennete. His predecessor at the post of Benjamin Netanyahu in response to a sharp increase in the incidence of three times introduced national quarantine.

The current prime minister prefers different restrictions, but not Lockdown. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that the Ministry of Finance does not have money for the payment of compensation.

The main audit was in August - the number of infected and seriously ill -ill reached peak values, but the quarantine suggested was never introduced. So, in the future it is unlikely.

From the "Israeli miracle" to the "epidemic of unvaccinated"

In early June, due to the mass vaccination of M-RNA, the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine, Israel reached an almost zero level of incidence. But soon the fourth wave of the epidemic began.

The Ministry of Health of Israel called the two main reasons for its appearance:

1. The vaccine is less effective from the Delta strain.

2. The immune response is weakened after time after receiving the second dose of the vaccine.

As the studies have shown, four or more months after the second vaccination of the Pfizer vaccine is effective against Delta infection by only 53%, but at the same time it protects 90% of the severe course of the disease.

“We measured the level of antibodies at the vaccine vaccinated with two doses and found that it is decreasing sharply over time,” says Dr. Ekaterina Levitsky, senior viral disease specialist responsible for sequencing coronavirus strains in the Ichilov medical center under the auspices of the Ministry of Health.

“Pay attention to the statistics of the incidence of the Ministry of Health,” said Dr. Levitsky. - There are very few patients in hospitals after three vaccinations, a little more - those who made one or two vaccinations. More than 70 percent of seriously ill patients are not vaccinated. ”

The head of the public health service, Dr. Sharon Elroi-Pris, said: "The current wave is an epidemic of unvaccinated." In Israel, by the way, about a million, a little more than ten percent of the population.

According to Dr. Levitski, in previous waves among patients in serious condition, people aged 55 and older prevailed. “Now many are not 50,” she says. “Apparently, this is due to the fact that most Israelis aged 60 plus are vaccinated three times.”

Is vaccination effective?

According to Levitsky, vaccination is very effective, but many misunderstand its essence. The main task of the vaccine is to prevent a severe course of the disease.

“People say:“ I got sick after vaccination, it does not work. ” Just the opposite! If a person did not go to the hospital, then the vaccine has completed his work, - explains Dr. Levitsky.

“I will say more: if there are many infected, but asymptomatic or sick easily, and at the same time the coronavirus departments will be empty, and mortality will mean, from our point of view, this will mean that the epidemic has ended.”

Presumably, the incidence of Covid in Israel will continue to decline due to the fact that most of the population is vaccinated. “But there is always the possibility that a new strain will come to the country, more resistant to the vaccine, therefore, on the border, they strictly try to weed out infected,” she notes. - We know 74 Coronavirus strains, including two Israeli, which have not yet registered WHO. Many of them do not cause us fears, but we carefully monitor what is happening. ”

Not a single vaccine

“Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent Covid, but not the only one,” says Dr. Evgeny Prezon, head of the Leumit Health Promactive medicine department. - As in the war it is impossible to rely only on one kind of troops - special forces or the Air Force, so here. You can’t rely only on the vaccine, although it is effective. ”

According to him, it is necessary to protect yourself in different ways. For example, wear a mask and wash your hands. “We found out that the preventive use of some drugs increases the body's protection against coronavirus: vitamin D, zinc, aspirin, there are drugs to reduce blood cholesterol ... of course, should be taken after consulting a doctor. The main thing is to deprive the virus of the opportunity to multiply in the body, ”he adds.

According to Dr. Prezon, Israel was not accidentally among the leaders in combating the epidemic for many reasons. Officials of the Ministry of Health initially made balanced decisions, managing the crisis. Due to the fears of the collapse of the healthcare system, as in Italy, in a matter of weeks all primary and secondary medicine was transformed into telemedicine. This minimized the contacts of doctors with patients - their communication was carried out by phone and video, which reduced the risk of infection. Thanks to this and hard restrictive measures of the collapse government, it was possible to avoid.

“Israeli doctors have a huge advantage. The system is fully computerized. The doctor has access to the patient’s electronic medical card, where all data about him has been recorded over the past 20 years! What medicines took, tests, surgery, ”said Dr. Prezon. - This allows you to conduct interesting innovative medical research, and we make discoveries. For example, Israeli doctors were the first to find that the lack of vitamin D in the body is one of the risk factors for infection. Another discovery is that the flu vaccination increases the body's protection against coronavirus. And so on".

The government also made an extremely important decision to purchase vaccines, and Israel was the first to begin strategic vaccination of the population. This helped curb the growing incidence in the country.

“But we must look forward, sooner or later we will find that the third vaccine is losing efficiency,” he added. - You need to think about this now. It would be promising to analyze the databases of patients and identify people with an increased risk of infection and disease. In order not to force everyone to vaccinate, but pointed to those who are vulnerable and protect them. ”

Tel Aviv