Israel winning global vaccination race - but be careful of comparisons
Israel has given more than ten per cent of its population jabs against coronavirus, making it the world leader in what is becoming a closely-watched international vaccination league.
Since their vaccination program began on December 20, more than 950,000 of Israel's 8.9m citizens have been treated - a rate that few other countries are anywhere close to achieving.
Britain has vaccinated roughly the same amount, but its program began some 12 days earlier on December 8, and so far represents only around 1.4 per cent of the UK population.
America, which began its program on December 14, has so far injected nearly 3.5 million - well short of its original target of vaccinating 20 million by the end of 2020.
Lagging towards the back of the queue, meanwhile, is France, which only launched its vaccination campaign on December 27 and has so far given jabs to only around 118 people.
Israel has earned widespread admiration internationally for the speediness of its vaccination roll-out. Among the factors cited for its success is the fact that it has a well-organised and digitised health care system, to which all citizens are registered by law.
The country's health minister, Yuli Edelstein, also claims that because the health system is adept at gathering data, it was easy for Israel to enter into early deals for vaccines, as drug firms knew they would get reliable feedback information on their products.
However, while the vaccination efforts may be a boost to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who is seeking re-election in March despite being on trial on corruption charges - direct comparisons with other countries' performance is not easy.
Nations of bigger geographical size - Israel is around the same size of Wales - have greater challenges in delivering vaccines to remote populations. And nations with less developed infrastructure are not suited to using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which must be stored in freezers at minus 70C. Israel has managed to subdivide shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, allowing it to be sent out to remoter areas.
Also playing a part is the degree of public acceptance of the vaccine in the first place. Leaders of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which has been hit particularly hard by the virus, have issued religious rulings in its support, saying the threat posed by the virus outweighs any other misgivings.
But in other countries - including Western nations such as France - public confidence in the vaccine program is far lower than officials had hoped for. In a 15-country poll carried out by Ipsos Global Advisor, just 40 per cent of French respondents said they would be willing to have the vaccine. That compares to 80 per cent in China, 77 per cent in the UK, and 69 per cent in the US.
Last month, America's top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, cited lower public confidence levels as a reason for why America had taken longer to approve a vaccine than Britain had. He said that the US not done so, there would have been "pushback" from many US citizens, some of who have little trust in US government institutions.
Different safety standards and approaches towards clinical safety have also played a role, as has the need for multi-national consensus in the case of the European Union. The European Medicines Agency, the regulator for the 27 EU member states, gave its approval for the Pfizer vaccine on 21 December, compared to 2 December in the UK and 11 December in the US.
Last week, France's health ministry defended the slow pace of vaccinations, saying authorities had chosen to give the jab in care homes to elderly residents, rather than making them travel. However, the French president Emmanuel Macron, has also warned that he "will not allow an unjustified slowness to set in."
