Israel: 80% of serious COVID cases are vaccinated

Most of the severe COVID-19 cases at one of Israel’s largest hospital complexes are people who received at least three shots, according to the director of the coronavirus ward.

The Middle East nation has one of the world’s highest rates of vaccination, about 90%, with many high-risk patients having received a fourth shot.

Prof. Yaakov Jerris told Israel’s Channel 13 News that “most of our severe cases are vaccinated,” Israel National News reported.

“They had at least three injections. Between 70 and 80 percent of the serious cases are vaccinated,” said Jerris, who works for Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, also known as Ichilov Hospital, the nation’s second largest.

“So, the vaccine has no significance regarding severe illness, which is why just 20 to 25 percent of our patients are unvaccinated.”

At an Israeli government cabinet meeting on Sunday, Jerris tried to clear up confusion regarding how COVID cases are reported.

“Defining a serious patient is problematic,” he told the ministers. “For example, a patient with a chronic lung disease always had a low level of oxygen, but now he has a positive coronavirus test result which technically makes him a ‘serious coronavirus patient.’” – READ MORE