Prof. Gabi Barbash, former director general of the Ministry of Health, spoke this morning (Thursday) with Ben Caspit and Winon Magal on their program on 103FM. Barbash commented on the expected closure and said: Reassured by the great apprehension of the various mutations, and warned that “if we do not know how to maintain our borders then we may also enter a fourth closure.”
Netanyahu addresses Knesset: “Immediately approve closure in plenum”
Are you satisfied that you are entering a closure?
“I would have been happy if we had entered the closure before the Demicolo closure that was here. I’m frustrated, these professors take turns, every time it’s someone else, too bad. I do not think that’s what influenced the government to do a half closure that brought nothing and only caused damage to businesses. Let’s forget that there are also over 500 deaths every month like this. It was an unnecessary closure. It’s very watchful, and everyone will draw their own conclusions about how the government conducts itself against the ultra-Orthodox, but we should not look at what happens to them. If they want to live so densely and raise the infection With all the implications of this, disrupting them, it should not affect the people of Israel who need to go into quarantine to reduce our morbidity.If the virus is somewhere it is everywhere, but I think if a closure is done properly then in the general sector and maybe also the Arab morbidity It will go down, and it may be that what will be in the ultra-Orthodox sector will not be good, but in fact you are right. “
Prof. Barbash addressed the great concern about The mutations: “Mutations in this virus have been and will be, currently there is one very early study done on the South African mutation in a group of 11 people who were infected with this virus, and saw that there at times in some people there was no neutralization of the virus by antibodies, it means nothing and have to wait and see .
On the vaccination campaign and its effects on the virus he said: “The first vaccinated will get their second dose next week, and a week after that should start seeing effect of the vaccine, it will take at least another month to have a large enough mass of vaccinated that can be said to start seeing its effect in the country. “I would rather we know less from the beginning, maybe today we were with a little more vaccines. In a situation where there is competition for vaccines all over the world and people do not always look sympathetically at the phenomenal achievement of the State of Israel, I’m not sure I would want to take anyone’s eyes off.” “In order to increase the quantities flowing into Israel and they do not yet know that they succeeded in it, but we bragged a little too much.”
On Vaccination of teaching staff By Ichilov Hospital underground, Prof. Barbash said: “I do not know the details of the move, but I think that in a situation where there is a national resource that is divided according to criteria and priority, a situation can not be created where the Ministry of Health is retroactively updated. “With a high priority as in the army, but the Ministry of Health needs to make this decision, and alas, we will start with decisions that are based on one kind of political pressure or another.”
Do you think two weeks will suffice and do you think this is the last closure?
“I do not know about the duration of the closure because in the previous closure we were also deceived and now there are two different factors in this closure from the previous ones which is the issue of vaccines and the British and South African mutations that may also be here. “Israel and cause everyone who enters here to undergo a pen test and not move until they know if it is clean or not. We may be able to contain what is happening here but if we do not manage to keep ourselves from entering mutations from other places, the price of it may be a fourth closure.” .