At the press conference Tuesday held by Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of Public Health Services in the Health Ministry, and nation coronavirus commissioner Prof. Salman Zarka, their fear and anxiety over the inevitable wrath from the cult of COVID deniers and anti-vaxxers was palpable. This cult consists of a handful of doctors, a few journalists and a smattering of political activists from the Balfour protest days, some of whom believe there is a global conspiracy afoot, orchestrated by health systems and pharmaceutical companies.
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From a numbers perspective, the corona-denial and anti-vax cult is a minority, although its influence is far greater than its actual size because it feeds a violent handful of people terrorizing senior health officials, chief among them Alroy-Preis. The result is devastating to the war against the coronavirus.
Horowitz was clearly trying to walk between the rain drops without getting wet when saying that when vaccines for children become available in Israel, it will be the parents' choice – but this goes without saying not just because vaccines have never been forced on anyone in Israel before. With that, when Horowitz and Alroy-Preis reiterate that vaccines will not be mandated by law, they only bolster the delusional and dangerous anti-vaxxers.
What's worse, due to their fears, Horowitz and Alroy-Preis are discussing the vaccines almost as if they are akin to any other medicine children can receive with their parents' approval, instead of treating the vaccines as the primary and most effective tool for fighting the pandemic. They also didn't dare say what should be obvious: that the Health Ministry will whole-heartedly recommend that parents take their children to get vaccinated. As a matter of fact, vaccines are the only medical treatment where the vaccinated person not only protects himself and his family, but also, on aggregate, the community, society, and entire country.
Horowitz and Alroy-Preis are omitting these significant social ramifications because they fear the anti-vaxxers, and because they imagine they will have to face the delusional and false claim that there are or will be forced vaccinations.
The decisive meeting on vaccinating children ages 5-11 is scheduled to take place Wednesday evening. We can only hope the majority of the participants vote in favor of vaccinating children in Israel at the earliest possible date. The discussion itself won't be open to the public, as some of the doctors partaking in the vote are worried they will be targeted by the handful of anti-vaxxers.
It's important for the Health Ministry to stop being afraid and to state loudly and clearly that the vaccine is safe for children and is meant, first and foremost, to protect them. While most kids who contract the virus recover from it relatively easily, it can still be detrimental to their health and even deadly. According to statistics from the Israel Pediatric Association, among the nearly half-million children who were infected in Israel, 201 suffered from severe symptoms and 11 died.
This time around, too, the Health Ministry must not stammer, rather tell parents and the children themselves that the vaccine is for their protection and ours, the adults – and will help keep the entire country safer and healthier.
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