Health official says Omicron could lead Israel to herd immunity

The highly permeable Omicron variant has increased the number of coronavirus cases worldwide. Worldwide infections have reached a record high, with an average of more than a million cases being detected a day between December 24 and 30, according to Reuters data. However, the deaths have not increased, giving hope that the new version will be less lethal.

By the end of December, Israel had managed to contain Omicron to some extent, but infection rates are now gathering pace, with daily cases expected to reach record highs in the coming three weeks. Nachman Aish, Director General of the Ministry of Health, said that this could lead to herd immunity.

“The cost will be very high transition,” Ash told 103FM Radio. “To reach herd immunity, the number has to be very high. It is possible, but we don’t want to reach that through infection, we want that to happen as a result of many people being vaccinated,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Health, about 60% of Israel’s 9.4 million population has been fully vaccinated – with almost all of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine, meaning they have either received three doses or their second dose recently. Just got it. But thousands of people eligible for the third vaccination have not yet taken it.

Nearly 1.3 million coronavirus cases have been documented in Israel since the start of the pandemic. But two to four million people could be infected by the end of January, when the Omicron wave may subside, according to Aron Segal, a data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and an adviser to the government.

In the last ten days, daily infections have more than quadrupled. Serious cases have also increased, but at a much lower rate, from about 80 to about 100.

Taking a closer look at severe morbidity, Ashe is considering allowing a fourth vaccine dose for people over the age of 60, after its approval last week for immune-compromised and elderly people in care homes.