AP – A violet light bathed the club’s stage on Monday when 300 people, masked and socially distant, erupted in gentle applause. For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, musician Aviv Geffen walked over to his electric piano and started playing for an audience sitting directly in front of him.
“A miracle is happening here tonight,” Geffen told the crowd.
Still, the refreshing experience above a shopping mall north of Tel Aviv was not accessible to everyone. Only people displaying a Green Pass who prove they have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 could enter.
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The highly controlled concert offered a glimpse of a future that many look forward to after months of COVID-19 restrictions. Governments say that getting vaccinated and having adequate documentation will make it easier for travel, entertainment and other social gatherings in a post-pandemic world.
The public awaits the opening night at Khan Theater during a presentation in which all guests were required to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination or full recovery from the virus, in Jerusalem, February 23, 2021. (AP / Maya Alleruzzo)
But it also raises the prospect of further dividing the world along the lines of wealth and access to vaccines, creating ethical and logistical issues that have alarmed decision makers around the world.
Other governments are watching Israel go through the world’s fastest vaccination program and fight the ethics of using shots as diplomatic currency and power.
Within Israel, green passes obtained through an application or the Ministry of Health website are the currency of the kingdom. The country recently reached agreements with Greece and Cyprus to recognize each other’s passes, and more such agreements to stimulate tourism are expected.
Anyone who does not want or is unable to receive vaccines that confer immunity will be “left behind”, said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein.
“It’s really the only way forward at the moment,” said Geffen in an interview with The Associated Press.
Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein during the announcement of the ‘Green Pass’ certification on February 18, 2021 (Ministry of Health)
The inspection at the door of the club, which admitted only those who proved to be fully vaccinated, allowed at least an appearance of normality.
“People cannot live their lives in the new world without them,” he said. “We have to get the vaccines. We must.”
The vaccine is not available to everyone in the world, whether by supply or cost. And some people don’t want to, for health, religious or other reasons. In Israel, a country of 9.3 million inhabitants, about half of the adult population received the two necessary doses.
There is new pressure from the government to encourage vaccination. On Wednesday, lawmakers passed a law that allows the Ministry of Health to disclose information about people who have not yet been vaccinated. According to the policy, the names may be disclosed to the ministries of education, labor, social affairs and social services, as well as to local governments, “with the aim of allowing these bodies to encourage people to get vaccinated”.
The government is appealing to the emotional desire for the company of others – in Israel’s famous outdoor markets, at shows like Geffen’s and elsewhere.
“With the Green Pass, the doors simply open for you. You could go to restaurants, work out at the gym, see a show, ”said an ad on February 21, the day when much of the economy reopened after a six-week shutdown.
He then raised an issue at the center of the global quest to overcome the pandemic that hurt economies and killed about 2.5 million people:
“How do I get the pass? Go and get vaccinated right now. “
It is that simple in Israel, which has enough vaccines to inoculate anyone over 16, although the government has been criticized for sharing only small amounts with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Doctors and police check a loading of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine inside a truck at the crossing of the Kerem Shalom border in Rafah, Gaza Strip, February 17, 2021. (AP / Adel Hana)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that he plans to send excess vaccine to some of the country’s allies. On Thursday night, the plan was frozen when the attorney general said he was reviewing legalities.
Most countries do not have enough vaccines, highlighting the ethical landscape full of who can get them and how to ease the burden of COVID-19.
“The fundamental principle of human rights is equity and non-discrimination,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Legislation.
“There is a huge moral equity crisis globally because, in high-income countries like Israel or the United States or EU countries, we are likely to obtain collective immunity by the end of this year,” he said. “But for many low-income countries, most people will not be vaccinated for many years. Do we really want to give priority to people who already have so many privileges? “
It is an issue that haunts the international community as the richest countries begin to gain strength against the coronavirus and some of its variants.
Last April, the initiative known as COVAX was formed by the World Health Organization, with the initial objective of taking vaccines to poor countries almost at the same time that vaccines were launched in rich countries. It missed the target and 80% of the 210 million doses administered worldwide were administered in just 10 countries, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus this week.
Airport officials transport a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from Covax’s global vaccination program at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, on February 24, 2021 (Nipah Dennis / AFP)
Ghana on Wednesday became the first of 92 countries to obtain free vaccines through the initiative. COVAX announced that about 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have arrived in the African country. This is a fraction of the 2 billion shots that WHO plans to deliver this year.
As these countries begin to vaccinate, wealthier nations are beginning to talk about logistics, security, privacy and “green passport” policy.
The British government said it is considering the possibility of issuing some kind of “COVID status certification” that could be used by employers and organizers of major events as it prepares to ease the blocking restrictions this year. But UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the policy could cause problems.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets with 11th grade students in the canteen during a visit to the Accrington Academy in Accrington, England, on February 25, 2021, as they prepare for the return of all students in March 8th. (Anthony Devlin / Pool Photo via AP)
“We cannot be discriminatory against people who, for whatever reason, cannot receive the vaccine,” he said.
Many countries in Europe are struggling to develop their own vaccine certification systems to help revive summer travel, risking the risk that different systems will not function properly across the continent’s borders.
“I think there is enormous potential for us not to work well together,” said Andrew Bud, CEO of facial biometrics company iProov, which is testing its digital vaccination passport technology at the UK’s National Health Service.
But the technical nodes surrounding vaccine passports may be the easiest to resolve, he said.
The biggest challenges “are mainly ethical, social, political and legal. How to balance the fundamental rights of citizens … with the benefits for society. “
The Times of Israel team contributed to this report.