Some 61% of the Israeli public would be interested in being vaccinated for the coronavirus, a new survey has found. Some 18% would refuse to be vaccinated.
According to the survey of 1,200 people and carried out by Professor Shosh Sharabani of the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Dr. Eyal Lahav of the Open University of Israel, and Professor Mosi Rosenboim of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 21% had yet to decide as to whether to be vaccinated.
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At 53.6%, the percentage of women who said they were willing to receive a coronavirus vaccine was lower than that of men who said they would, at 68.8%. Twenty-one percent of women said they were certain or almost certain they would not agree to be vaccinated, while only 14.6% of men said the same.
Among secular Israelis, 63.8% said they would be willing to be vaccinated, while 49.8% of Israel's religious community said they would.
When asked how willing they would be to be vaccinated for the virus if the government would offer a 30 shekel stipend to those who did, just 56% of respondents, a 5% decrease, said they were almost certain or certain they would.
"Many people are worried about getting vaccinated because this is a new vaccine with as-of-yet unknown side effects," Sharabani explained. "It may be that concerns over the vaccine in fact increase in instanced where the public is offered a grant to be vaccinated."
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warned that vaccines were no magic bullet for the coronavirus crisis.
"Vaccines do not equal zero COVID," said WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan, adding that not everyone will be able to be vaccinated early next year.
"Vaccination will add a major, major, powerful tool to the tool kit that we have. But by themselves, they [vaccines] will not do the job."
With the virus continuing to put enormous pressure on healthcare workers, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also cautioned against the "growing perception that the pandemic is over."
With infections on the rise in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the so-called coronavirus cabinet had yet to decide on a reimposition of restrictions aimed at reining in the virus, ahead of a cabinet meeting, Sunday. The cabinet would first hear the Health Ministry's suggestions for curbing the spread of the virus before deciding on the matter, he said.
The prime minister also said he had spoken with the head of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer about moving up the expected delivery of its vaccines to Israel and that he would continue "to lead the policies we set out when the vaccines were first being developed: as many vaccines as possible, from as many sources as possible, for as many citizens as possible, as quickly as possible."
He said that "we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I repeat, we must all continue to adhere to the guidelines."
The Health Ministry on Sunday reported 988 of the 25,846 people who were tested for the coronavirus were found to be carrying COVID-19, Saturday, for an infection rate of 3.9%.
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Alongside the high infection rate, Tel Aviv and Eilat have been designated "yellow cities" according to the government's traffic light program of determining public health restrictions based on local infection rates. Israel now has 25 "red" cities and 39 "orange" ones.
According to a report by the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center published Sunday, the rate of reproduction now stands at 1.24, meaning Israel has seen the number of infections double every two weeks. This current rate is also higher than Israel's rate of reproduction at the outset of the second lockdown, imposed in September.
Of the 1,270 teachers who tested for the virus, 61 were found to be positive, for an infection rate of 4.8%. The infection rate for nursing home residents and staff stands at 1.8%.
For the first time, the center published its findings on infection rates among those arriving in Israel from abroad, according to which, 506 people, or 0.9% of those who arrived in Israel over November, were carrying the virus.
There are currently 13,340 active cases in Israel. Of the 336 people in serious condition, 88 people are on ventilators. So far, 2,909 of the 344,228 who have been infected with the virus have died.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
