ISRAEL: Using carrots and maybe some sticks to persuade the remaining COVID-19 vaccine holdouts
....the Israeli government is looking at incentives and some stronger, possibly coercive measures to persuade holdouts to sign up to what has been the world’s fastest and most successful national COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Besides young people, some members of the ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities have been reluctant to get the vaccine, which is now available to anyone over 16.
Half of Israel’s population has been inoculated. The combination of official carrots and sticks to reach the rest reflects the challenges facing the country in its race toward herd immunity — and also the fact that the vaccination drive is a political as well as medical imperative. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing an election next month, has made the success of the vaccination rollout and the promise of a return to “normal life” the centerpiece of his campaign.
To help make that happen, controversial new legislation was passed Wednesday that permits the health ministry to provide municipalities with the names, addresses and contact information of residents who have not been vaccinated. The law allows city workers to use the information to contact those people and try to convince them to do so. The measure also grants the education and welfare ministries access to that information. ...
But civil rights groups and privacy advocates warn that it sets a dangerous precedent of violating medical confidentiality. ...
Proposals have also been floated to require unvaccinated public-sector employees, including teachers, to take a coronavirus test every two days and those who fly into the country from abroad to wear an electronic monitoring anklet to deter them from breaking quarantine.
Another bid to incentivize vaccination is the “green pass” that can be downloaded onto a smartphone a week after a person’s second COVID-19 shot or if he or she has had the disease. For now, it’s the only way to get into major soccer games, concert halls, theaters, gyms and swimming pools, and to eat in at restaurants once they reopen. ...
