By: Dor Scwartz, October 21, 2021
Since the commencement of the pandemic, Israel has led the international realm, not only in the Middle East but globally in the fight to mitigate the COVID-19 breakouts. Israel was the first country to fully vaccinate a majority of its eligible citizens, leading to 78% of its eligible citizens 12 years or older.[1] Over the last three weeks alone, Israel’s infection rates drop by 37% per week, totaling 4,400 people.[2] These hopeful results were not solely a result of the vaccination efforts by the citizens of Israel, but also a product of the highly controversial but extremely effective vaccine incentive of the “Green-pass”.[3]
The “Green-pass” is the Israeli government’s incentive-led program to promote individuals to take the vaccine. The Green-pass is identical to the United States’ vaccination card, but its effects are extremely opposite. Without a Green-pass, a citizen of Israel cannot enter any public places including restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and even public parks.[4] The Israeli Ministry of Health has also adopted to the list of restricted areas including sporting events, hotels, gyms, religious areas, bars, museums, libraries, universities, and any area exceeding 100 individuals in a concentrated area.[5]This mandate is legally binding upon all business owners and citizens of the State of Israel including the private and the public sphere.[6]
The Green-pass was also used as an incentive for individuals to receive the aggressive booster vaccine in which if an individual was not “boosted”, that individual’s Green-pass was invalid.[7] The controversial aspect of the mandated Green-pass is that some individuals will claim that it is forced vaccination rather than incentivized vaccination. The argument is twofold. One can claim that the Green-pass is a policy that incentives individuals to get vaccinated if they want to leave their homes and conduct regular daily activities. On the other hand, citizens will argue that the policy is a forced vaccination because one cannot live without having access to regular daily activities such as going to the grocery store, getting gas, and walking through public parks. However, these mandates have results, and these results are life changing. In a global pandemic when lives are at risk the law must come into place and address the life-threatening issue to reverse or halt the issue.
Foreign neighbors to Israel must adopt these measures including the policy of the “Green-pass” to achieve results in impeding the spread of COVID-19. The “Green-pass” is the closest mandate to a forced-vaccination without impeding on democracy. Thus, developed countries, similar to the United States of America, should adopt these measures to halt the spread of the virus. American citizens have seen to benefit from the practices as seen with similar policies in New York. As of August 17, 2021, New York has a state-wide mandate requiring people 12 years and older to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor dining, fitness, and entertainment.[8] This vaccination mandate is less rigid than the Green-pass in Israel because it does not remove the eligibility of citizens who are not vaccinated to enter into necessity-based areas, like grocery stores or banks. This mandate has shown to increase the percentage of vaccinated individuals; New York has 65.4% of its citizens vaccinated while a state like Florida, which has no such vaccination checks, has 58.7% of its residents vaccinated.[9]
It is seen as a global mission by foreign national governments to grow the number of citizens vaccinated, however, the leading nations, especially the United States of America, are not placing effective mandates to attack this issue. The argument of whether these policies are incentive-based or considered forced, and thus infringes on an individual’s freedom, must be put aside to attack the main issue; people must get vaccinated. In Israel, the medical advocates and physicians are not forcefully showing up to people’s homesteads and forcing a needle onto their arms. Rather, they are creating a very strong mandate that highly incentivizes individuals to vaccinate for the better of society.
A further study of where the Green-pass is eligible in certain boundaries of the area will lead to an enlightening discovery of how the Israel-Palestinian conflict is at play with the virus. Specifically, the Israeli Ministry of Health has a link on their website and a specific clause stating that the Green-pass is only recognized within the jurisdiction of Israel.[10]
[1] Daniel Estrin, Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In ?New COVID Cases. Here’s Why,https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/08/20/1029628471/highly-vaccinated-israel-is-seeing-a-dramatic-surge-in-new-covid-cases-heres-why (2021).
[2] Reuters, https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/israel/, (last updated Oct. 18, 2021, 6:05 AM).
[3] Marc Siegel, EU and Israel’s COIVD passes are better than US vaccine mandates, https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/576638-eu-and-israels-covid-passes-are-better-than-us-vaccine-mandates, (last visited Oct. 14, 2021, 8:30 AM).
[4] Green pass Restrictions, https://corona.health.gov.il/en/directives/green-pass-info/ (last updated Oct. 3, 2021).
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] AP News, https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-middle-east-health-jerusalem-israel-25ec5e9141c72080876bfe4f481bf50f, (Oct. 3 2021).
[8] NYC Health, Vaccine Booster Shots, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-main.page.
[9] Google COVID Numbers, https://github.com/owid/covid-19 data/blob/master/public/data/vaccinations/us_state_vaccinations.csv(2021)
[10] Green pass Restrictions, https://corona.health.gov.il/en/directives/green-pass-info/ (last updated Oct. 3, 2021).
