History is being made right before our eyes as hospitals are being flooded with vaccination requests, and President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein have stepped up to be the first ones to get vaccinated. Hopefully, more Israelis will follow suit as setting a personal example is one of the best ways to increase public trust.
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But it's not only Rivlin, Netanyahu, and Edelstein that need to work to build public trust. The entire government needs to come together.
When criticizing how the government has handled the pandemic, some politicians, and even some doctors, throw in the subject of the vaccines as well. Some of their irresponsible and outrageous statements might directly put our lives at risk.
Edelstein said in a press release Thursday that some members of Yisrael Beytenu called on the public not to be vaccinated. He requested of party leader Avigdor Lieberman to explain if that was the official position of the party. "If not, I will ask [Lieberman] to join us and call on the citizens of the country to be vaccinated in order to overcome the pandemic together."
"Each person, based on his age and health condition, should consult with his doctor and carefully consider how to act," said Lieberman in response. "I intend to get vaccinated but do not want to preach morality on the subject to anyone."
Lieberman's response summarizes the irresponsibility that characterizes some of our politicians and doctors, who have become coronavirus deniers.
Unlike other medical treatments, a vaccine protects not only the person who received it but also his family, community, and society as a whole. Vaccination is imperative, and it is a moral and social responsibility that Lieberman brushes off.
Besides receiving a vaccination, adhering to the guidelines and the restrictions put in place to curb the pandemic are of no less moral and social importance.
Israel is in a fragile state as the country is preparing for the vaccination process and is approaching its third wave of COVID-19 and a possible third lockdown. The sooner the government imposes a lockdown, the more patients will be saved.
Nevertheless, in the next few days, we will hear leaders and doctors claim that there is no need for a lockdown, almost going as far as saying that the coronavirus is "just a flu". Hospital administrations will say that there is no need for a lockdown as they have enough beds to accommodate all coronavirus patients. But the point is that we don't want more patients in critical condition in their hospitals because we know that most of them won't survive the most terrible disease of the century.
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