Coronavirus: What’s the vaccination rate in your city? Find it here
While the country boasts the most successful vaccination campaign in the world so far, significant gaps exist between different municipalities.
By ROSSELLA TERCATINA medical worker is seen filling up a coronavirus vaccine dose at a Meuhedet vaccination center in Jerusalem, on February 16, 2021.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Few people are familiar with Tel Mond and Kochav Yair, respectively 13,000 and 9,000 people strong communities in the Sharon region in the center of the country.But lately, these two small towns have set up a crucial benchmark for the rest of the country as leaders in the vaccination race. As of Thursday, they were the only places in Israel where over 80% of the residents had received at least the first jab, according to data by the Health Ministry – 95% in Tel Mond, and 84% in Kochav Yair.Country-wide, some 4,1 million Israelis, or 44.9% of the population, have been inoculated once, and some 2.7 million – about 30% - twice.While the country boasts the most successful vaccination campaign in the world, significant gaps exist between different municipalities.Out of ten best localities for vaccination rate, seven have less than 10,000 residents: Kochav Yair, Omer, Lehavim, Shoham, Hashmonaim, Meitar and Oranit. In addition, Kiryat Tivon has a population of about 18,000, while Kiryat Motzkin, which is part of the greater Haifa area, has about 45,000 inhabitants, some 50% of whom have already received both doses of the vaccine.By contrast, Jerusalem, Israel’s capital and the largest city with 950,000 residents, lags behind the country’s average with only 18% of people inoculated twice, and 29% with the first jab. Things are better in Tel Aviv – 465,000 residents, with some 55% jabbed once and 36% twice. Haifa – population 285,000 – also enjoys similar rates of vaccination, 53% and 38% respectively.The most dramatic situation is registered in Bedouin centers. All localities with vaccination rates of under 10% are Bedouin.In Bir Hadaj and in Al-Sayid, which have around 6,000 residents each, less than 1% of the residents have been jabbed.When exluding Bedouin localities, the Israeli town with the lowest vaccination rate is Emmanuel, an Ultra-Orthodox settlement in the West Bank. Only 12% of some 4,200 residents have received at least one shot of the vaccine, and around 5% have had both.Following Emmanuel are the small religious moshav of Tifrah near the Gaza border, and three ultra-Orthodox cities, Beitar Illit, Elad and Modiin Illit with respective populations of 60,000, 50,000 and 79,000.
“I think we need to thank our citizens, who have demonstrated a high level of awareness and who demonstrated a high level of responsibility in all these past few months,” Yuval Arad, head of Kochav Yair’s local council, told The Jerusalem Post.Arad has lived in the town for 24 years and has been the head of the local council for two and a half. He explained that the secret of the town’s success lies in a mixture of high awareness of the residents and a widespread campaign to reach each one.“In the past two weeks, we organized two large vaccination operations in our town, we recruited the youth movements to help and organized a campaign for the residents,” he explained.Arad emphasized that they used all forms of media that the municipality could employ: residents were contacted directly, texts and WhatsApp messages were sent, information was posted on Facebook, and street signs were put up.In addition, a call center was set up to call up people who had not vaccinated to persuade them to go, emphasizing the opportunity to do it near their home.“I must say that there was also great cooperation with the Health Ministry, Home Front Command, Magen David Adom and the healthcare providers,” he pointed out.The results are undoubtedly impressive: in addition to the high vaccination rate of the general population, some 87% of the education staff in the town have been vaccinated and about 95% of those over age 50.Arad explained that they had very few cases of people who did not want to get vaccinated for reasons related to fears regarding the effects of the inoculation or fake news.Asked whether he had any advice for fellow local governments officials, he said that: “Every mayor knows their community, but I can say that we focused on doing a lot of promotion and explanation activities, including offering Q&A opportunities with doctors. I think these are the best tools we have.”
