IDF combat medics – required by military orders to be protected against Hepatitis B and who were exposed to bodily fluids through which the virus can be transmitted – were forced to serve while effectively unvaccinated, at risk of contracting the pathogen through direct exposure, Israel Hayom has learned.
Hepatitis B can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. As far as is known, the command echelon, responsible for ensuring immunological protection, did not intervene.
According to testimony obtained by this newspaper, a number of medics serving in regional brigades under Northern Command, who treated soldiers with severe wounds sustained in Syria and Lebanon, served throughout the war without sufficient Hepatitis B antibodies in their bloodstream.
The reports contradict the orders of the IDF's Chief Medical Officer, which require the army to administer a booster shot to soldiers as part of their service as medics – to protect their health, particularly given that they are exposed in heightened ways to blood and bodily fluids carrying various pathogens, including Hepatitis B, and face a high risk of infection.
"At the start of my service, I joined a brigade alongside two other medics who had been in my course," a female medic who recently served in one of the northern regional brigades said. "During that period, we happened to undergo an antibody blood test." The test was conducted months after she had received her booster shot.
"After the results came back, another medic and I were told we didn't have enough Hepatitis B antibodies in our blood and were notified we needed an additional vaccine. At the same time, we discovered that two other medics had also been required to get vaccinated – even though we had all received the booster shot."
This stage should have served as a warning to the brigade commanders and to medical corps professionals responsible for drafting orders in their fields. It appears, however, that the group's case was the last to be taken seriously during that period. "After our case, not a single medic who came in afterward was sent for an antibody blood test – let alone for a vaccine, since there is no need for one if there is no indication from the initial blood tests" – tests that were never conducted at all.
In accordance with Israeli law
In most cases, the IDF administers a booster shot to soldiers designated to serve as medics during the induction process on their enlistment day, so that they arrive at Training Base 10 (the IDF's dedicated combat medic school) already able to safely practice using medical equipment. The decision is based on the Israeli approach, under which anyone born after 1992 receives three vaccine doses before the age of six months.
In practice, the IDF adopted existing Israeli law and adapted it to its needs, in a manner similar to the Health Ministry's procedure for civilian healthcare workers. The ministry's directive states, "Healthcare workers and students in healthcare professions must therefore be vaccinated against serious, important diseases" – at minimum, airborne diseases, as well as polio and Hepatitis B, which can cause severe liver damage that sometimes deteriorates into cirrhosis or even cancer.
As noted, the military adopted a similar directive, requiring that a soldier in the "healthcare worker" population receive a booster shot after age 18 to be considered vaccinated against Hepatitis B.
Alternatively, the IDF ruled that a soldier who received three vaccine doses within the decade before enlistment is considered vaccinated – a clause that is clearly relevant for new immigrants, or for those who refused the vaccine. The IDF's Chief Medical Officer went further, determining, "There is no need for an antibody test after the vaccine or the vaccine series." Receiving the booster shot alone, the officer determined, is sufficient to establish that a medic is immune to the virus.
Yet the serious testimony obtained by Israel Hayom paints an entirely different picture – one that raises sharp questions about how the army protects the health of both its treating medics and its patients.
"Who knows how many 'vaccinated' medics got infected"
The implications are straightforward. A large portion of the medics who served alongside the female medic may have treated patients throughout their service without any immunological protection suited to their role – without intervention from base commanders, and in direct violation of the IDF Chief Medical Officer's order, which states, "Overall responsibility for vaccinating all those required to be vaccinated in a unit rests with the unit commander." It is not unreasonable to assume that medics currently serving at bases across the country are also effectively unvaccinated – and have no idea.
"During my service, I was posted to the brigade's field intensive care unit," the medic who spoke with Israel Hayom said. "We were the first to respond at any point in the sector and treated every type of case – from children with minor cuts to soldiers who came back from Lebanon with partial limb amputations – and I had no idea what the sterile conditions were like there.
"Some of those who boarded the ambulance with me and treated those same patients now say they did so without ever undergoing an antibody test, and I know several who were aware they didn't have sufficient antibodies in their blood but treated patients anyway – because that manpower was needed at that moment."
"As a medic in the army's field intensive care unit, you are exposed to exactly the kinds of cases through which the virus can be transmitted through bodily fluids," said another medic in whom no antibodies were found.
"This is a situation that falls entirely under commanders' responsibility, and it is absurd that these situations didn't raise a red flag for any of them, at a time when the orders state that we are protected and that there is no need to check whether we have sufficient antibodies. I don't want to know how many other bases across the country have the same situations happening right now, with nobody knowing about them," the medic concluded. "Who knows how many medics got infected while thinking they were vaccinated. This is a real danger."
The IDF had not responded by the time of publication. Its response will be included when received.
