it makes sense if we don't need 4th dose. but the reality is that we will need x doses before things normalize. it is clear that 2nd dose Pfizer does not generate this number (especially for her age) and the 2 doses sinovac 6 months ago is the reason
以色列疫情大幅回落係因為第三針，戴口罩，綠色通行證，定係三樣都有呢？ 淨係第三針加強劑幾有用？ 呢刻冇人知㗎！
COVID-19 is here to stay, but Israel shows that boosters, masks and vaccine passports can tame the virus
By Middle East correspondent Tom Joyner and Fouad AbuGhosh in Jerusalem Posted Sat 30 Oct 2021 at 3:19am
Saturday 30 Oct 2021 at 3:19am, updated Sat 30 Oct 2021 at 8:34am
It was the first country to vaccinate, the first to reopen, then the first to widely implement a booster shot.
Now Israel is returning to life close to normal only six weeks after the peak of its worst COVID-19 wave yet.
In mid-September, new infections of the Delta variant had surpassed 10,000 per day and hospitals were groaning under the pressure.
But today, its restaurants are bustling, cinemas and theatres are packed, university lecture halls are full and the major airport is heaving.
Deaths and new infections have plummeted to the single and triple digits, and the country will be welcoming overseas tourists from November 1.
As Australia prepares to begin delivery of a third dose of the vaccine from next week, Israel's turnaround offers a glimpse into a possible future of the pandemic.
So how did the country go from a cautionary tale to a success story in less than two months? The answer lies only partially in vaccines.
Eschewing harsh lockdowns, it instead rolled out a mandatory booster shot to everyone over the age of 12. While masks were compulsory in certain settings, its economy remained defiantly open.
"We were faced with a crucial decision," said Professor Cyrille Cohen of Bar Ilan University, who is also a member of the Israeli government advisory panel on COVID-19 vaccines.
"Should we go back into lockdown? Should we start to think about again closing our businesses and schools? Or should we abide by another solution?"
Without any real-world data on the efficacy of booster shots in the wider community, the Israeli government took a fateful gamble.
In late August, the government approved a third shot as a booster for young adults and teens, and then progressively to categories of adults.
At the time, some scientists spoke against the decision, arguing it lacked clear evidence of any benefit and that the focus should instead be directed towards convincing the unvaccinated to accept their first shots.
But the gamble soon appeared to pay off.
As the booster campaign ramped up, new Delta infections, hospitalisations and deaths began to dramatically tumble. More than a third of the Israeli population has now been triple-vaccinated.
Soon, a clear pattern began to emerge among severe cases of the disease and those dying as a result of it — they largely did not include people who had received three shots of the vaccine.
"Almost 95 to 99 per cent of the cases that we saw in the hospital here were those patients who were unvaccinated, or those patients who had not received the booster shot," said Dr David Katz, the director of the COVID-19 unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, a major private hospital in Jerusalem.
Even if Israel's booster campaign was the most important factor in so quickly overcoming the country's summer Delta surge, it's unlikely any type of booster vaccine will be able to sustain that alone, said Ron Balicer, chief innovation officer of major Israeli health fund Clalit Health Services.
A balance of mask mandates, enforcement of the green pass system and widespread testing with a combination of PCR and rapid antigen tests have also played a part.
/https://img.discuss.com.hk/d/attachments/day_240419/20240419_775746de567a30e0fd034Va2SAfeyvaw.jpg)
/https://www.discuss.com.hk/attachments/day_240419/20240419_df38cb89047a743c19b0QdaI7PUSu7w6.jpeg)
/https://www.discuss.com.hk/attachments/day_240418/20240418_85fcbc4561458f62adbcBUVNa8UfAPXk.jpeg)
/https://www.discuss.com.hk/attachments/day_240418/20240418_dc77f2f2211dc0594f17cRGRRV3SVV31.jpeg)
/https://www.discuss.com.hk/attachments/day_240419/20240419_8877b2e9dc74ec6e90bfnOdL8yuJG95a.png)
/https://www.discuss.com.hk/attachments/day_240419/20240419_d9443b946caf363d6becycu8hHp2JzCx.jpeg)
