Israel wants to be the first country to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic and, if it doesn’t stumble, it has a good chance of achieving this. It is now delivering 200,000 vaccine jabs a day and is leading the world’s per capita vaccination rate.
This has been achieved not only due to the clever procurement of vaccines, but also by distributing them through an old, universal public health system that people genuinely trust.
Israelis pay a 5 per cent universal health tax to support this system built in the tradition of socialist-minded, health-care worker co-operatives. While it dates back more than 70 years, it operates on an ultra-modern centralised IT system that allows for rapid updating and change across the nation.
And the Israeli population is presently desperate for change as the country remains locked down in a deadly third wave.
With 8000 new cases a day, more than 1000 serious or critically ill people in overcrowded hospitals and more than 800 deaths since the beginning of January, there is a palpable sense of urgency across the country. But there is political conflict too, which paradoxically is driving the national vaccination program while allowing the virus to rip in particular populations.
Read the article by Jill Margo in the Australian Financial Review.