The world’s first ‘herd immunity group’ was born … Israeli “achieved 81% immunity”

The Israeli army (IDF) has declared the arrival of ‘herd immunity’ against the Corona 19 virus for the first time among the world’s armed forces, the Times of Israel and others reported on the 11th (local time).

The Israeli army’s technical and logistical chief, Maj. Gen. Izik Turgeman, reportedly said that 81% of all troops had completed vaccination or had recovered after COVID-19 infection. “Next week, the vaccination rate in the military will hit 85%,” Turgemann said. Experts predict that transmission of the infection will not occur easily if 70 to 80% of the population has antibodies.

Israeli soldiers are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. [AFP=연합뉴스]

In Israeli forces, the Times of Israel reported that three-quarters of all troops were vaccinated at least once every five weeks since the beginning of January. Even soldiers are not required to be vaccinated, but the Israeli army believes that establishing and promoting vaccination stations throughout the country was effective.

According to the media, as the vaccination rate increased, the number of people infected with Corona 19 in the military also dropped dramatically. General Turgemann said: “For units with vaccination rates over 90%, meetings and training are also possible.” To prevent the spread of Corona 19, some units have reduced or canceled the training scale.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver a speech on the 9th (local time) while observing citizens who have been vaccinated against Corona 19.[AFP=연합뉴스]

However, the Israeli military believes that it is difficult to get vaccinated for 8% of the entire medical history, including women who refused to be vaccinated based on their personal preferences and women early in pregnancy. In Israel, which has a conscription system like Korea, both men and women are required to serve. According to one analysis, this army-centric culture also contributed to the world’s fastest vaccination rate in Israel.

Israel is predicted to be the first to declare herd immunity in the world, as well as in the military. Bloomberg estimates that Israel will complete two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine next month for 75% of the population. As of the eleventh day of our world according to the data, 58.6% of the population completed one dose and 46.2% completed two doses. Consequently, they are beginning to regain their daily lives, such as making plans to completely lift the blockade next month.

The Israelis are sitting in a restaurant that reopened on the 9th. In Israel, vaccination has accelerated and the number of confirmed cases has decreased, opening some commercial facilities to recover daily. [EPA=연합뉴스]

Meanwhile, a study on day 11 found that the preventive effect of the Pfizer vaccine, which was confirmed in real vaccines in Israel, is similar to or better than the results of the clinical trial. Vaccine developer Pfizer and the Israeli Health Ministry have released a joint report looking at the effectiveness of prevention, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others reported.

According to the report, an analysis of data on vaccinations in Israel from January 17 to June 6 showed that 97% of them were effective in preventing symptomatic infections, severe cases and deaths. Furthermore, the effect of preventing asymptomatic infections was 94%. This is similar to or greater than the 95% efficacy of Pfizer’s vaccine in phase 3 clinical trials.

Furthermore, the report said that the probability of infection with corona symptoms19 of unvaccinated people was 44 times that of vaccines and 29 times the probability of death.

Reporter Lim Sun-young [email protected]