Globally, Israel is being touted as the leader in getting its citizens against COVID-19. Per capita, the country surpasses all other countries, declining, in vaccinating millions of Israelis in the first few weeks since receiving the vaccine there, according to the publication online Our World in Data.
Israeli media reports that the country is seen as a test case for vaccine manufacturers because if it works to beat the virus there, other countries will be willing to buy the life-saving antidote to a whole disease. spread that killed millions around the world and crushed economies everywhere.
As de jan 9, about 2 million Israelis had been vaccinated against COVID-19, reaching about 16 percent of the population. The country is vaccinating 150,000 people a day – including Shabbat – and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for 175,000 daily vaccinations by mid-January. Netanyahu was the first Israeli to receive the December vaccine. 19.
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Certainly, the size of the country’s population helps. 9.2 million Israeli citizens are even less than 10.6 million Georgia, not to mention the U.S. population of 331 million. However, according to Atlanta Dr. Harry Heiman, Israel ‘s successful vaccination program is largely due to its universal health care system. Moreover, “Israel knows what it means to implement and roll out policy at a national level,” said Heiman, a clinical professor in the Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences in Georgia State University School of Public Health.
Comparative statistics on vaccine progress, according to our World in Data.
Under the Israeli National Health Insurance Act of 1995, the people of the country have the right to complete health coverage, ensuring that coverage could not be denied to any citizen due to lack of funds. Everyone chooses to become a member of one of four kupat columns, or sick money. In the case of America, these are government-funded health maintenance organizations, or HMOs.
All four Israeli health care providers – Clalit, Maccabi, Leumit and Meuhedet – are required to provide a standard basket of medical services. Citizens pay a health tax of about 5 percent of their income to help pay for the expenses. Based on the proportion of each kupat cholim of the population, it receives a per capita payment from the government to cover these costs.
According to David Chinitz, professor of health policy management in the School of Public Health of the Faculty of Studies of the University of Hebrew-Hadassah, ” U.S.-led, especially HMOs. “Writing in Tablet magazine, Chinitz also noted that citizens can switch their membership between plans each year without restriction.
“While the percentage of the population changing health plans is low (between 1 per cent and 2 per cent each year), the health plans are working hard to retain their members and replace them. attract, “Chinitz said. He said the competition is only above quality of service because Israel ‘s health indicators, such as life expectancy and infant mortality, are among the best in the world.
Heiman believes that the national leadership of the United States failed, relying on the states that did not have the leadership or the resources to implement their immunization plans. “Georgia, like all states, had to put together a vaccination plan in October,” which allowed a reasonable planning time, Heiman said. “But it doesn’t seem to have happened much between putting it on paper and administering the plan.”
When asked if he had read the plan, Heiman replied that he had read the “first, second and third versions.”
“Israel knows what it means to implement and roll out policy nationally,” said Dr. Harry Heiman, a clinical professor in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University.
The plan, he said, calls for vaccination under existing infrastructures such as referral and providers. Pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS were to vaccinate the priorities in old establishments, but not their staff.
Until the last COVID relief legislation passed by Congress in late 2020, states were not given enough resources to vaccinate their numbers, Heiman said. However, that should not have had a complete impact on Georgia ‘s response to the vaccine demand, he said. “Georgia has a wet day fund for emergencies and economic downturns, and I can’t think of a more appropriate use of that fund” than for the spread of the vaccine.
“My hope is that the incoming Biden administration, based on the team I saw, will make more sense and we will have more consistent messages coming from the federal government.”
He also hopes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will be allowed to “do its job, which has been difficult,” he says “it will take a long time to build his reputation and trust. to get the public back. “
Rochelle Walensky is the Biden nominee for the head of the CDC, currently head of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. According to Biden ‘s announcement of her naming, Walensky, who is Jewish, is a leading expert on virus testing and treatment and has been at the forefront of the Massachusetts pandemic response.
As Israel continues its vaccination program, it is also experiencing high numbers of new COVID cases, despite the country being locked up for the third time because of the pandemic.