Study: 16,000 Israeli Lives Saved By Vaccinations

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Some 16,000 Israelis lives were saved by the vaccines against coronavirus, according to an estimate by Professor Itamar Grotto, former director of public health at the Health Ministry and the deputy director-general of the ministry.

Grotto’s findings are based on a study by the ECDC, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, one of the senior bodies investigating and monitoring disease in the world. The estimate is conservative since it refers only to people over the age of 60 who were saved by the vaccines.

According to data released by the Health Ministry, 6.7 million Israelis received the first shot of vaccine, 6 million received the second shot, 4.4 million received a third shot and 600,000 Israelis have received a fourth booster shot.

The data reveal that a non-vaccinated Israeli is eight times more likely to die of coronavirus than his vaccinated counterparts. Even during the current fifth wave of Omicron which has affected vaccinated persons as much as non-vaccinated, the chances of death for a vaccinated person are five times less than those who were not vaccinated.

Professor Grotto, an expert on public health and epidemiology, told the Yisrael Hayom newspaper that “some members of the public and some experts claim that Omicron is a light illness ‘like flu’ but this is a specious claim as it does not take into account the influence of the vaccinations which prevent widespread mortality and serious disease even during the Omicron wave.”

Grotto added that an ECDC study in November 2021 had measured how much mortality had been prevented by the vaccinations. The measurements referred to the over 60 age group which represented 90% of all mortalities and determined that the first vaccination prevented 60% of mortalities and the second one – 95% of mortality.

The data revealed that “from December 2020, the beginning of vaccinations until November 2021, Israel prevented 15,662 deaths. During this period 3,972 people over the age of 60 died of coronavirus and without the vaccinations 19,634 people would have died in Israel.”