If today Israel, with the record of inoculations in relation to the population, has become the country the world looks to as a model of efficiency in dealing with the vaccination campaign, it is now becoming increasingly clear how this country can be a case study compared to a another phenomenon: the refusal to be vaccinated.
What happens in a country where there are unlimited vaccines, but there are residents who do not take advantage of it?
The fact that Israel is at the top of the world rankings for vaccinated by population (currently 55% of the population has received the first dose and 47% also the second) is unbelievable, especially when compared to other industrialized countries.
In the current situation, whereby there is no shortage of vaccines in Israel and anyone over 16 years old, citizens and residents, can be inoculated quickly, it must therefore be asked how it is possible that the vaccination of all eligible persons has not already been vaccinated. .
The opposition to the vaccine therefore presents itself as the great enigma of human behavior: despite the efforts of science to find a solution that puts an end to the pandemic and those of the government to obtain it, still everything can be undermined due to the choices of some people. While 75% of over 60s have already been vaccinated, we see much more hesitation among young people.
The ancient Hebrew saying “whoever saves one life saves the whole world” certainly embodies the sense of the value of life that characterizes Israeli society. But all of this would not have been possible had it not been for the availability of vaccines that is allowing Israel to be the world laboratory of this mass enterprise. Prime Minister Netanyahu must therefore be acknowledged for having identified the urgency of the vaccine purchase campaign well in advance.
The data indicate that most of the hesitant are among the Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox, but the phenomenon does not concern only minorities: opposition to the vaccine finds space in all sectors, including the wealthiest sections of the population. It is therefore worth looking at Israel to understand if, when mass vaccination is available everywhere in the world, it will be precisely human behavior that undermines efforts for immunization.
According to data shared by the Israeli Ministry of Health with Repubblica, between 10 and 20% of the local population opposes the Covid vaccine, for various reasons. There are those who fear possible side effects, others who “do not want to insert a foreign element in their body” (a slogan particularly in vogue among vegans), and those who believe in the conspiracy theories that the vaccine wants to create mutations in our DNA ( and there are those who answer “it would probably be good in your case …”). There are those who oppose it as a matter of principle: because the state transmits data – albeit anonymous – to Pfizer.
And then of course there are no-vaxes, regardless of the disease in question. One of them is doctor Arieh Avni, whose license was recently revoked by the Ministry of Health because it was discovered that he was providing forged vaccination certificates. He didn’t do it for money, but for pure ideology. Avni has even founded a party that will compete – without any chance – in the elections on 23 March. A group of Israelis even turned to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to oppose the ongoing vaccination campaign.
If Israel continues at this vaccination rate, the pandemic could be over in a month. For this to happen, at least 75% of the population must be inoculated. Given that over 25% of the Israeli population is under the age of 16 (the minimum age to receive Pfizer vaccine at present), any percentage of opponents of the vaccine risks driving the country away from the goal of achieving herd immunity.
So, just as we seem to be glimpsing the light at the end of the tunnel, the question that arises is: Will the unpredictable behavior of humans succeed in thwarting the efforts of science?
Translation by Sharon Nizza
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