How Israel applied COVID-19 vaccines to 9% of citizens in less than 2 weeks

• In less than two weeks, Israel provided doses of vaccine to almost 9% of its residents.
• In contrast, the United States received doses for 0.95% of its population and the United Kingdom, less than 1.5%.
• Experts say Israel’s small size, along with its aggressive efforts to acquire vaccines and a universal, centralized health system, put the country ahead.
• Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.

Israel is far ahead of any other country in administering COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Thursday, the country had administered 800,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, meaning that approximately 8.84% of its 9 million residents received their first dose, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. Health care providers in Israel are administering doses to about 150,000 people a day.

Yonatan Adiri, who served as Chief Technology Officer for former Israeli President Shimon Peres, said he expects Israel to have “a fully vaccinated population” by the end of March. Adiri is now the CEO of Israeli health technology startup Healthy.io. He added that completing vaccination for high-risk groups should happen earlier – hopefully by the end of February.

“We expect 10% of the population to be vaccinated by this weekend, which will constitute 50% of all those at high risk and in group # 1,” Adiri told Business Insider.

In contrast, the US administered approximately 3.1 million doses of vaccine until Thursday, covering 0.95% of its total population. The UK administered doses to about 1.4% of its population.

Israel has some innate advantages over other countries that have approved vaccines. Its population is small and dense, so vaccines don’t have to travel far. But the country also has a vertically integrated, digitalized health system that allows vaccines to be distributed quickly to vulnerable groups.

Israel has already ensured sufficient doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for all its residents to receive at least one initial injection and for the majority of the population to receive both full doses.

Netanyahu called in person Pfizer at 2 am

Amir Cohen / Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was criticized for some of his decisions during the pandemic, including a premature reopening over the summer that led to a major outbreak and triggered a second blockade. So far, more than 423,000 Israelis have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 3,300 have died.

Eager to combat the virus and return Israel to normal before his next election in March, Netanyahu personally contacted Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla several times this fall. At one point, he boasted that he spoke to the CEO at 2 am, according to the Associated Press.

So far, that effort seems to have worked. Israel has secured 8 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. He also struck a separate deal with Moderna for 6 million photos. That is enough for 7 million people to receive two vaccines – about 77% of the Israeli population. Or it is enough for 4 million to receive a single shot and 5 million to receive both. Only a handful of other nations have guaranteed more total doses of both vaccines, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Canada.

If Israel continues to vaccinate residents at the current rate, it could deliver an initial dose to the entire population in about two months. It is possible that a single dose could provide significant protection on its own, according to Dr. Chris Gill, an infectious disease specialist at Boston University.

Gill told WBUR that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine can be 80 to 90% effective, based on data from the Phase 3 trial collected between the patients’ first and second doses. Pfizer, however, claims to have no data to support the effectiveness of a single dose.

Moderna, in turn, collected data from patients who received only one dose of the vaccine; these data showed that a single dose can be 80 to 90% effective.

“After 14 days, the [single dose] vaccine is extremely effective, “Gill told the WBUR.

The FDA took a more cautious note on the single dosage for both vaccines, saying, “There appears to be some protection against COVID-19 disease after one dose.”

But even if a single dose is not effective in preventing COVID-19, Israel could achieve collective immunity in just a few months.

A universal and digitally intelligent health system

Yonatan Adiri

Israel’s vertically integrated health system, sponsored by the government, helped with vaccine implantation. All Israelis over the age of 18 must register with a government-backed insurance agency, and the system is funded by a progressive tax, so that almost 70% of Israelis receive free and unconditional assistance. Community health centers can be found 10 minutes away from most Israelis, and these centers are being used as vaccine distribution centers.

Israel’s national health care system is “globally recognized as a leader” in providing care and information digitally, according to The Wall Street Journal. Adiri said he helped elderly parents find out how to get their vaccines on a smartphone app. The app, he said, provides Israelis with their personal health information, including medical history, and allows them to make appointments online – including for COVID-19 vaccines.

“I opened the app and he asked me, ‘where would you like to be vaccinated?'”, He said, adding: “I defined my [parents’] first appointment and they said to me, ‘you received a Pfizer vaccine at a designated location,’ and they automatically scheduled a second dose. “

On his own phone, the app does not allow Adiri to make an appointment because he is no older than 60, he said.

“We are not the most organized country in the world. We are not Singapore,” he said. “That said, the correlation between the facts, the people being vaccinated and the policy, shows that the execution is really in line with the epidemiological logic and priorities assigned to policymakers.”

Palestinians are still waiting to receive vaccines

Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

The successes of Israel’s vaccine, however, do not extend to Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Palestinians have only one mobile refrigeration unit in Jericho capable of storing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to Al Jazeera. Human rights groups have asked the country to allocate vaccines to Palestinians and provide logistical support for distribution.

“Israel has moral and humanitarian responsibility for vaccinating the Palestinian population under its control,” said Physicians for Human Rights on December 16, according to The Washington Post.

Israel said it could supply excess doses of its vaccines to the Palestinians. Still, Gerald Rockenschaub, head of the WHO office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said it could be “in the early mid-2021” before Palestinian territories receive doses of the vaccine.

Palestine saw more than 138,000 COVID-19 cases for a population of about 5.1 million. At least 1,400 Palestinians died.