Among those who have expressed concern is Opposition Leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Likud prime minister. One of the ways he demonstrated that concern was by placing phone calls to the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna, the two pharmaceutical companies whose vaccines Israel has purchased and has used to successfully inoculate a majority of its citizens.
Netanyahu is pushing for a third vaccine dose for Israelis over the age of 50 as the Delta COVID variant rages across the country.
"I have arrived at the conclusion that the State of Israel needs to immediately order millions of vaccinations and needs to immediately begin giving the third dose to the elderly population," said Netanyahu in the video.
While Netanyahu’s concern seems genuine, there are ways to express it and those ways do not include calling companies he should no longer be in touch with. His outreach to Pfizer and Moderna is an example of gross intervention in the State of Israel’s governmental process and best illustrates not only unhelpful meddling but also the attitude he displayed as prime minister which was to not consult anyone else in the government and to try and run the country on his own.
This kind of meddling is unhelpful because Israel has a competent health minister in Nitzan Horowitz and a competent Health Ministry director general in Prof. Nachman Ash. Horowitz, Ash and the other top health officials in the government are the ones who need to make the decision.
The question of a third dose is a serious one and the benefits of it need to be weighed against the risks. Not every medical official favors a third shot and many have come out against it, even for those people who are vulnerable due to compromised immune systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, for example, is still debating the issue. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.
"We don't need his help," Ash told KAN Reshet Bet radio last week. "I respect his opinion, but the decision is made by professional bodies. Our connection with Pfizer and Moderna is direct."
Ash is right. The job of the opposition leader is to call out the government when it makes mistakes or when he views the policy to be wrong. It is not his job to try and operate as if he is the government.
The Health Ministry is the authority which will decide if Israelis need a third dose. It will do so based on research, science and medicine as well as in consultation with other health systems around the world.
Instead of doing that, Netanyahu is playing health politics. When a former prime minister calls, what are Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel supposed to think? Who are they supposed to believe is in charge? Netanyahu or the government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett? What will happen when they speak next with Bennett? Will they listen to him or not?
Netanyahu should no doubt be praised for his foresight last year in pressing for Israel to become one of the first countries to receive vaccines and to partner with Pfizer in an effort to show how the vaccines can return a country to a semblance of normalcy. He made personal contacts that helped propel Israel to the front of the line in terms of vaccination success. However, like in other times throughout Netanyahu’s legacy, that demonstration of good leadership was overtaken by a desire to continue to rule even when he is no longer in power.
This meddling in the vaccination of the country does not help. If anything, Netanyahu has an open channel with the current prime minister and can share his advice with him and other top government officials.
The world is watching Israel. Israel has a chance to coordinate a new booster shot or decide to wait a bit longer and see what happens with the current Delta variant. What Israel needs is unified leadership of the best and brightest to tackle this pandemic, not petty politics.