The IDF has become the first military in the world protected from COVID-19 with herd immunity due to a successful vaccine operation.
Some 81% of the army personnel have either been vaccinated or recovered from the novel coronavirus, Maj.-Gen. Itzik Turgeman, head of the IDF Technological and Logistics Directorate, told reporters on Thursday.
“We are at the end of the vaccination operation,” Turgeman said. “Initially, our goal was to finish the operation within eight to 10 weeks. We are now finishing the 10th week – in the shortest time possible, in a precise manner.”
Turgeman added that he estimates that the IDF will reach 85% immunity by next week.
The IDF’s Medical Corp commander, Brig.-Col. Prof. Elon Glazberg, said that this achievement allows the IDF to start returning to its pre-corona routine.
“Until two months ago, this [operation] seemed impossible,” Glazberg said. “We did it based on a daily learning process, and we have a reason to be proud. Thanks to productive cooperation with the civilian [health] system, we managed to do it.
“The fact that the mass of the IDF is vaccinated allows us to act differently,” he said, including holding gatherings, and “exercises in units that have over 90% vaccination rate. It also allows us to look forward and stay optimistic, but we keep on enforcing the restrictions and hold a daily assessment.”
It is estimated that about 8% of army personnel refuse to get vaccinated. Among them are pregnant women, people who can’t be vaccinated due to health reasons, and those who are ideologically against it.