With the Health Ministry poised to approve the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, attention is turning to the readiness of the population to get vaccinated.
One sector of the population where questions are being raised is the ultra-Orthodox community, in which substantial components of the sector have not abided by government regulations and instructions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The community widely seeks approval from its rabbinic leadership before adopting a novel behavior or action, and although ultra-Orthodox Israelis do in general get standard vaccines, the new coronavirus vaccine may not gain automatic traction in the community or its leadership.
As yet, no prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi from any of the community’s subdivisions have made any statement about the vaccine.
The Jerusalem Post asked sources close to Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the two most senior rabbis in the Ashkenazi, non-hassidic ultra-Orthodox community whether or not they have endorsed usage of the vaccine, who responded that neither rabbi has addressed the issue yet.
Officials in the ultra-Orthodox division of the Health Ministry’s public advocacy unit say that some leading rabbis have been in touch with them about the vaccine and requested information, but said that the ministry was not yet directly requesting support for vaccinations among the community.
A spokesman for the ultra-Orthodox division said that he believed the majority of senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis will support the vaccination and that a majority of the community will indeed get vaccinated.
He noted that the reason large segments of the ultra-Orthodox community have not adhered to government COVID-19 regulations specifically because doing so would disrupt everyday religious life and that the vaccine would therefore be appealing because it provides for an easy return to normalcy.
He added that since the vaccination is yet to be approved by the Health Ministry it was natural for the rabbis not to have commented on the issue yet.
Betzalel Cohen, an expert on haredi society and the head of the Beit Midrash Anshei Hayil for Torah Leadership at the Society for Advancement of Education, said however that he believes rabbinic approval for the vaccine will not automatically come.
Cohen said that intervention by the leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis would depend on the response of the ultra-Orthodox public.
If the community at large goes to get vaccinated without waiting for approval from the rabbis then the rabbis themselves will be unlikely to get involved on the matter.
“If the ultra-Orthodox public is not responsive to requests to get vaccinated then the rabbis will be asked to intervene, and I estimate the majority will support the vaccine,” said Cohen.
Prof. Yedidya Stern, an expert in ultra-Orthodox society at the Israel Democracy Institute, was however more skeptical.
He said that there were several phenomena with the ultra-Orthodox community and its leadership that could create obstacles to widespread coronavirus vaccination within the sector.
Firstly, he pointed out that ultra-Orthodox society is very conservative and the fact that the coronavirus vaccines are new means that the leadership could be suspicious of their use.
He added that the ultra-Orthodox leadership, and society more broadly, is skeptical of science and also inclined towards believing conspiracy theories, a problematic combination which again could generate opposition to use of the vaccine especially given the conspiracy theories already circulating about the new vaccines.
Finally, Stern noted that half of the ultra-Orthodox population is under 16 years of age and will therefore be ineligible to receive the vaccine regardless.