Israel planning immunity passes as vaccination data emerges

Israeli officials are planning to introduce Covid-19 ‘immunity passes’ with almost a quarter of the population already vaccinated.

Passes would allow the bearer to avoid most coronavirus restrictions and mirror plans floated by Downing Street in April, with so-called ‘freedom certificates’ letting people lead near-normal lives.

It comes as Israel emerged as “ground zero for vaccination data”, to such an extent that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently negotiated an expedited shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech drug by offering efficacy results in return.

Preliminary data from the first 600,000 Pfizer vaccine recipients in Israel were published last week, suggesting that the jab halves the chances of infection within 14 days of the first dose.

It also shows that people are still dangerously at-risk of catching Covid-19 up to seven days after the first dose, but thereafter their chances of infection fall rapidly.

Of the 600,000 sampled, 4,500 tested positive within seven days and of these 244 ended up in hospital, however analysts say it is more than likely that they had contracted coronavirus before the jab.

In the second week after the jab 124 people were hospitalised, and only seven more were admitted more than 14 days after their inoculation.

Meanwhile, Sheba Medical Center said data from 102 of its employees who had been given two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine showed that almost all developed far more antibodies than people who have had – and recovered from – Covid-19. This is in-line with scientific thinking.