JERUSALEM, Oct. 15 : Reuters -- Four months into one of its worst COVID 19 outbreaks, Israel is seeing a sharp drop in new infections and severe illnesses, aided by its use of vaccine boosters, vaccine passports and mask mandates, scientists and health officials said.
In June, Israel was struck by its third coronavirus wave fuelled by the fast spreading Delta variant.
Rather than new Lockdown measures, the government bet on a third booster dose of Pfizer Inc. PFE.N BioNTech vaccine for people age 12 and up, mandatory face coverings and enforced use of a green pass - proof of vaccination, recovery from illness or a negative test for the virus at restaurants and other venues, even for children.
Since peaking in late September, severe infections have fallen in Israel more than 80% with daily cases nearly halved.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett broke the Delta wave, when he suggested Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for close, smart and flexible management allowing the life alongside coronavirus. Israel's living, with COVID strategy, which has not come without cost or controversy, has kept schools and economy open.
On Thursday the Israeli Health Ministry presented the latest safety and effectiveness data from the booster campaign to a panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considering authorization for additional booster shots.
The data show that among people over 60 - the first group to receive boosters - infections began rapidly declining about two weeks after third doses were administered, while still climbing among other age groups.
A data analysis by Doron Gazit and Yinon Ashkenazy of the COVID-19 Monitoring Team of Hebrew University showed the virus' reproduction rate - its ability to spread - began a sharp fall among each age group following the third shot.
Two months into the Delta wave, severe COVID cases covered people over 60 more than half of the vaccinated people faced with this wave. The majority were over 70 with health conditions that put them at higher risk.
Since administration of boosters, usually unvaccinated, often young, people are bearing the brunt of serious illness. They make up about 75% of hospitalized patients in extreme condition, while those vaccinated with two or three shots account for a quarter of such cases.
A third dose has so far been effective in curbing severe breakthrough cases among vaccinated people at 40 and up, according to the Health Ministry.
Ran Balicer, who heads the government’s coronavirus expert advisory panel, said a combination of measures curbed delta surge.
These include the Masks mandate, the Green Passes rapid testing with massive testing and PCR testing of antigens. But undoubtedly, the most important impactful factor in bringing down delta summer surge was mass vaccination campaign with booster doses, Balicer said.
In England where boosters have been administered to roughly 5% of the population, masks have largely disappeared and vaccine passports are not mandatory, COVID - 19 cases are on the rise.
Some scientists said Israel s decision to approve a third vaccine dose for young adults and teens in late August was premature, lacking clear evidence of a benefit. There argue that the focus should still be on convincing unvaccinated people to accept the shots.
The United States and several European countries have so far authorized boosters only for older adults, people with weakened immune systems or workers with high risks of coronavirus exposure.
The World Health Organization has pleaded with developing nations to hold off on boosters while many states struggle to access vaccines.
Israel gambled, although it came to approving a third dose for the whole population and not specific age groups as other countries did, said Hagai Levine, professor of epidemiology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In the middle of a pandemic you sometimes have to make a decision on partial evidence, Levine said. Nevertheless, the jury is still out on third doses for the entire population. Bennett has been criticized by some scientists for rejecting tougher measures that would have kept Delta infections lower from the beginning. They included government health officials who feared the Living with COVID policy suffered too heavy a toll.
In this wave, 2400 people died. And there are advantages to keeping the economy open and there is also a cost, said Sharon Alroy-Preis, minister of public health at Israel's health ministry, during the Jerusalem Post conference on Tuesday.
By September, hospitals strained to care for COVID - 19 cases that could have been avoided, doctors and health officials said.
It's a good policy, but has its price, said Yael Haviv-Yadid, head of the unvaccinated neonatal department at Sheba Medical Centre whose unit saw an influx of young, critical patients. The teams are burnt out. They tired and tired. So far, 3.7 million people have taken the third shot, more than three quarters of Israel's population.
Israel was the first country to deal with the combined challenge posed by the Delta variant and mass disappearing immunity, but it is certainly not the last Balicer warned.
Other countries that will be faced with this complex challenge will have to figure out their own balance, he added, and the costs could be high.