BAT YAM, Israel – Israel took the lead with the world’s fastest Covid vaccination campaign, inoculating almost half of its population with at least one dose. Now, rapid deployment is turning the country into a living laboratory for setting the rules in a vaccinated society – raising thorny questions about rights, obligations and the greater good.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office voted this week to open shopping centers and museums to the public, subject to the rules of social distance and mandatory masking. For the first time in many months, gyms, cultural and sporting events, hotels and swimming pools will also reopen, but only for a few.
Under a new “Green Badge” system that works like a carrot and stick, the government is making leisure activities accessible only to people who are fully vaccinated or recovered from Sunday. Two weeks later, restaurants, function rooms and conferences will be able to operate according to these rules. Customers and participants must carry a vaccination certificate with QR code.
Israel is one of the first countries to struggle in real time with a series of legal, moral and ethical issues while trying to balance the steps to resume public life with sensitive issues such as public security, discrimination, free choice and privacy.
“Being vaccinated is a moral duty. It is part of our mutual responsibility, ”said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein. He also has a new mantra: “Whoever is not vaccinated will be left behind”.
The debate surrounding Israel is spreading to other parts of the world as well, with plans to book international travel for holders of vaccinated “green passports” and warn of the growing disparities between richest and most vaccinated poor countries.
Israel’s central government – eager to get the country out of its third national blockade without triggering a new wave of infections – has been encouraged to act by local initiatives. Irritated by the country’s blocking regulations, a shopping mall in Tel Aviv’s working-class suburb Bat Yam opened its doors last week to customers who could prove they were vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19.
In Karmiel, the mayor made a similar decision to open his city in northern Galilee for business. His office began processing requests from employers who could verify that all of their employees had received the required two doses of vaccine or had recovered from the virus.
And in other cities, mayors wanted to bar unvaccinated teachers from classrooms, while some hoteliers threatened unvaccinated employees with dismissal.
Dr. Maya Peled Raz, a specialist in health legislation and ethics at the University of Haifa, defended some limits to personal freedoms for a greater good. Employers cannot force employees to get vaccinated, she said, but they may be allowed to employ only vaccinated workers if it does not hurt their business.
“This may involve some damage to individual rights, but not all damage is prohibited if it is well balanced and legitimate to achieve a worthy goal,” she said. “The choice is yours,” she added of leisure activities. “If you are vaccinated, you can enter. As long as you’re not, we can’t let you put other people in danger. “
Four million Israelis – nearly half the population of nine million – received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and more than 2.6 million received a second dose. But about two million eligible citizens aged 16 and over have not sought vaccines. The average number of new daily infections is around 4,000.
Edelstein, the health minister, said on Thursday that vaccination would not be mandatory in Israel. But his ministry is now proposing legislation that would force unvaccinated employees whose work involves contacting the public to test for the virus every two days. And he is promoting a bill that would allow the ministry to identify unvaccinated people for local authorities.
Local authorities and volunteers have been trying to lure people to vaccination centers with free pizza, Arabic sweets and, in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, bags of cholent – a slow stew traditionally prepared for Saturday.
However, vaccination remains voluntary and not everyone is rushing.
Ofek Hacohen, 34, a Jerusalem vacation rental manager, said he believed in a natural approach to a healthy body and insisted that the risk posed by the virus – which he called “the flu” – was exaggerated. He added that he does not trust the safety of the vaccine.
He said he did not know what he would do if legislation was introduced limiting his options.
“But I will not be vaccinated. I will definitely participate in demonstrations. I believe that I will not be alone ”, he said, adding:“ I can survive without going to the theater, the football games or a restaurant. It’s annoying, but what can I do? “
Concerts and restaurants are luxuries that people can forgo more easily. But the issues become more pressing and controversial when it comes to the rights of employers and workers.
Faculty rights are under private scrutiny as some face-to-face classes are reopened. A quarter or more of Israel’s teachers did not seek the first dose, a situation that critics say poses a potential danger to students under the age of 16, who are too young to be vaccinated. Some health professionals have also refrained from being vaccinated.
After several city mayors threatened to ban unvaccinated teachers from their classrooms, the assistant attorney general clarified that they had no authority to do so without new legislation.
Dr. Peled Raz said that the temporary emergency law governing Israel’s response to the virus would be easier to change with respect to healthcare professionals than others due to the potential harm to themselves and patients, adding that it would be justified.
“Do you want to be a nurse and you won’t be vaccinated?” she said. “Get vaccinated or choose another profession”.
But two human rights organizations, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Workers’ Hotline, said they had already received complaints from other unvaccinated officials. The groups wrote a letter to the attorney general this month demanding that he issue a clear opinion and said that, under existing legislation, an employer cannot demand information from workers about their vaccination status.
“The first problem is that there is no policy,” said Gil Gan-Mor, director of the civil and social rights unit at the Civil Rights Association in Israel. “When the government is not working fast enough, we see a lot of private initiatives.”
Finding a balance between competing rights and interests remains a matter of debate, he said, and requires extensive discussion in Parliament.
Barak Cohen, a lawyer and social activist, raised more questions in a recent Facebook post.
“To what extent is it appropriate to pressure and coerce when the decision-making process around the vaccine is kept hidden, in the dark and confidential?” he wrote, noting that he does not deny the severity of the coronavirus or the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine.
He also pointed to the public’s low confidence in the government and what he called the “huge financial interest” of pharmaceutical companies.
In Karmiel, the city gave at least 20 companies a local version of a green badge to put on their windows, according to Eli Sade, the director of the mayor’s office. All who entered were required to prove that they had been vaccinated or recovered from the virus. But the police told shopkeepers to close because they were breaking the law.
The Bat Yam mall, which wanted customers to prove they had been vaccinated, soon abandoned the requirement to show the green passport at the entrance and returned to equipping the guards with thermal guns.
Inside, the few stores that opened have created their own entry policies. One network followed basic social detachment regulations, while another required a vaccination certificate. The sportswear and lingerie stores operated a “delivery” service for customers who were at the door.
Haifa Zeinab, 20, who worked in a Japanese-style clothing and gift shop, said he did not plan to be vaccinated because an aunt was dizzy after two doses. If she was warned not to come without a green passport or a negative test every two days, she said with a shrug, “So, I’m not going.”