An HIV vaccine has failed in late-stage trials, researchers said Wednesday, adding to a decade-long list of failed attempts to control the global epidemic.
The study, known as Mosaico, was the result of a public-private partnership involving the US government and pharmaceutical giant Janssen. Since 2019, it operates in eight Western countries, including the United States. About 3,900 gay men and transgender people who are at significant risk of HIV were enrolled in the study.

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Mosaico's lack of efficacy was not unexpected the experts said, recently another clinical trial called Imbokodo, announced in August 2021, failed to test a similar vaccine in African women.  According to an agency spokesperson, the NIAID spent $56 million between the two trials.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the vaccines tested in both studies used common cold viruses to deliver so-called mosaic immunogens. This should induce a robust and protective immune response by including genetic material from a variety of HIV strains common worldwide. Mosaico contained additional elements to boost immune response.

"We expected to see some signal of efficacy from this vaccine," Susan Backbinder, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who co-led the Mosaico study, said.

Backbinder said it was too early to determine the reason for Mosaico's vaccine failure. Her team plans to analyze blood samples from participants over the next few months to investigate this. They will also try to determine if there were any subgroups of participants for whom the vaccine showed efficacy, and it is hoped that the findings will help her develop an HIV vaccine in the future.

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Two more fecal tests have come back positive for the polio virus, the Health Ministry reported Thursday.

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Earlier this week, a four-year-old child tested positive for polio, the first recorded case in Israel since 1989.

One of the two positive samples was taken as part of the district health office's attempts to trace the contacts of the young polio patient. Thus far, three samples have been negative and 19 additional samples are being tested by the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.

The second test that came back positive was taken as part of an anonymous fecal testing survey being conducted in and around Jerusalem. The Health Ministry is expanding the survey, running more fecal testing in Jerusalem, and testing more sewage samples in Jerusalem as well as in other locations in Israel.

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Israel has signed a deal to purchase 5 million doses of a COVID vaccine produced by the American drug manufacturer Novavax Inc.

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Novavax's two-dose, protein-based vaccine can provide an alternative to those Israelis hesitate to be vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine or cannot do so for medical reasons.

The Health Ministry said this would provide an element of "technological diversity" to the country's coronavirus strategy.

The vaccine will be given in two doses and will be subject to regulatory approval in Israel.

Based on early research data, Novavax's vaccine is effective in generating an immune response against the Omicron variant.

"We are encouraged that boosted responses against all variants were comparable to those associated with high vaccine efficacy in our Phase 3 clinical trials," said Gregory M. Glenn, Novavax's president of research and development.

The Novavax purchase comes as a subvariant of the Omicron strain has the world worried.

On Friday, Britain's Health Security Agency said that BA.2 subtype of the Omicron coronavirus variant appeared to have a substantial growth advantage over the currently predominant BA.1 type.

UKHSA said that there was an increased growth rate of BA.2 compared with BA.1 in all regions of England where there were enough cases to compare them, and that "the apparent growth advantage is currently substantial."

"We now know that BA.2 has an increased growth rate which can be seen in all regions in England," said Dr. Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Advisor for the UKHSA.

The agency said there was no data on the severity of BA.2 compared to BA.1, but reiterated that a preliminary assessment did not find a difference in vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease between the two Omicron subtypes.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statement issued Friday confirmed that nearly half of US states had confirmed cases of the BA.2 subvariant but that the strain was still at "low levels" in the US.

The CDC warned that the BA.2 strain was 1.5 times as contagious as the original Omicron strain.

Meanwhile, the Omicron wave in Israel showed signs of receding on Sunday, with the reproduction rate at 0.95 for the first time since the eruption of the fifth wave, according to Health Ministry data.

At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, "We are seeing the Omicron wave start to stabilize. I am choosing my words carefully to avoid a sense that everything is over and inappropriate end-of-Omicron celebrations. At the moment, we are dealing with overcrowded hospitals and a very large number of new cases."

The Health Ministry reported that tests processed Saturday confirmed 45,258 new COVID cases. The percentage of tests that came back positive for the same 24-hours period stood at 27%.

As of Sunday morning, 1,069 COVID patients were hospitalized in serious condition nationwide, 241 of whom were on ventilators.

Nearly half a million (461,929) Israelis were defined as active or symptomatic cases, and there were 138,016 people in quarantine at home. Over the weekend, 9,900 people were vaccinated, including 2,300 children and 5,400 people who received a second booster shot.

Israel Hayom has learned that the Israel Teachers Union plans to ask that schools that still haven't received shipments of rapid antigen tests be exempted from the government's new quarantine guidelines. ITU chairwoman Yaffa Ben-David was scheduled to meet with Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton and senior Health Ministry officials at 1 p.m. Sunday.

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In other COVID news, the news site Politico reported Friday that the administration of former US President Donald Trump created a secret list while planning for COVID vaccine distribution, prioritizing certain countries over others.

According to the report, the list favored Israel and other allies such as Taiwan over low-and moderate-income countries.

The list was split into several sections, including US strategic allies, countries that helped develop the vaccine, countries with relationships with Gavi – the global vaccine alliance –  and all other countries.

Officials told Politico that the documents were passed on to the Biden administration, saying that it "does not use the previous administration's policy or the cited list to make vaccine sharing decisions."

The list was an annex to a longer document laying out the Trump administration's international approach to facing COVID, planning the distribution of the vaccines based on political preference.

"We thought that the categories themselves made sense at the time," said Paul Mango, the former deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to Politico.

"The underserved countries were third on the list."

The list included an assessment of the country's ability to "absorb and distribute doses and to what degree they were experiencing outbreaks."

"We identified categories and we put weights to them, and then subject matter experts from each [agency] came in and informed those categories," one former Trump official said. "From there, we had a panel of experts score each country based on the evidence provided."

Erez Linn and i24NEWS contributed to this report

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It would be hard to say that the timing is perfect for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to give an interview. The country is in the midst of a fifth, tough wave of COVID, even confirmed carriers don't know what strain they have; the new quarantine guidelines for schools is causing controversy and confusion between the staffs of the education and health ministries; and a plan to compensate businesses is also being met with confusion and bitterness. But the Prime Minister's Office has decided that perhaps because of all this, it's time to set the record straight.

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"I'm being interviewed at the peak of the pandemic, not when it's behind us, to tell the public that everything is under control. When we see the end, we need to protect the elderly and the children," Bennett tells Israel Hayom.

"Israel's management of the Delta and Omicron wave is almost the best in the world, based on a sane Israeli model that on one hand doesn't deny COVID – we already know it isn't the flu and causes a lot of damage. On the other hand, I'm not rushing to pull the trigger on the lockdowns that were a key tool here last year. The model is to keep the economy running amid Omicron. We are almost first in the world in the extent of testing, and it works. We were the first in the world to bring in the Pfizer drug," he says.

Q: We're also first in the world in new cases.

"And the first with the second booster, which is proving itself and saving lives. We have the strongest plan in the world to protect the elderly. That is the Israeli way – initiative, action, not sending everyone home, but keeping the economy operating."

Q: But there is a sense of denial. You once spoke of 'pincers' and a smart operation, and it looks like the government has thrown up its hands. There was a lot of time to prepare for this wave, like vaccinating kids in school.

"We prepared ahead of time and did a lot. My decision to close down air travel bought us three to four weeks in which we vaccinated 600,000 elderly [with a second booster], which prevented extensive loss of life. In that period, we acquired drugs and we built the antigen [testing] system, which didn't exist when I took office. For a year and a half, you couldn't buy antigen testing kits in stores. I opened the market and we brought in suppliers. Now the price for a test in stores is eight shekels ($2.50)."

Q: Still, these are costs the people have to shoulder. There are families that have needed dozens of tests in the past few weeks.

"We have just handed out three testing kits to each public school student, and we'll distribute 20 more under the new plan."

Q: But I asked you about early vaccination for kids. Most new cases aren't from the elderly, but from schools.

"I, as the government, can buy the vaccines and make them accessible. Ultimately, it's the responsibility of each person to get vaccinated. We aren't forcing the vaccines on people and each parent is making their own decision on the matter. At the end of the day, the parents are responsible for their children. To set a personal example, I took my son David to get vaccinated in the first couple of days. There is a need for the public to cooperate. The good news is that the public is demonstrating maturity and understanding that it is in partnership with the government."

'We won't fight the previous war'

Q: Are you at peace with the education minister's decision not to provide vaccinations at schools, even if the Education Ministry could have saved mass transmission?

"If I look to either side, at the countries that shut down schools or the countries where there is no problem, I think that [the situation] is being managed – and I take personal responsibility – according to a rational, very proactive, Israeli model. The guiding principle is good, and allows the country to keep running. We haven't declared a day of lockdown. We began the school year as scheduled, and I'm talking about a once-in-a-century pandemic. Compared to the rest of the world, we're OK. We are discussed as a model. I was the first world leader who informed the public about the Omicron variant and shut down air travel. The previous concept was to tell the public 'don't leave your homes, we'll give you money.' Now the concept is a lot of activity. In the past, I've spoken about a hammer vs. pincers. The hammer is a lockdown, and I don't think we need to go there. The pincer is testing.

"We've made a huge effort, but ultimately, when it comes to schools where a mobile vaccination station is set up and only 13 out of 400 [students] bring a permission slip for the vaccine, it's not necessarily a success. Nothing can replace parental responsibility. I'm calling on anyone who still hasn't gotten vaccinated to get vaccinated. We're also the first to know that the second booster works."

Q: It took a long time to decide on the new quarantine guidelines. It's strange, considering that there's a de facto lockdown. For a long time, parents aren't going to work and children have been at home.

"I'm not denying that there's a tsunami here. I said at the beginning that we'd be seeing 20,000 to 50,000 new cases a day. We were well prepared as a government. We are compensating parents for the loss [of work days]. We raised the payment for a lost work day from 430 shekels [$134] to 570 shekels [$178]. People who look at the situation with a rational, open mind say, 'Wow, the government is doing the right thing – neither hysteria nor irresponsibility.' For the kids, this is the right time to transition to the mass testing approach. Every kid in Israel will start getting tested twice a week. It's an exceptional tool to fight a pandemic."

Q: Is this how we beat a pandemic?

"A pandemic is defeated through a lot of initiative, a lot of flexibility. When you don't fight the previous war. You manage a pandemic looking ahead, not back."

Q: One of the disadvantages in being a public figure is that people always remind you of things you said in the past. More so, things you wrote. Do you regret your book [How to Defeat a Pandemic]?

"Not at all!" Bennett turns to the large bookshelf behind him glancing at the biographies and other books in a variety of languages and on a number of subjects, and asks his advisors, "Do we have a copy here?'

The Twitter nation is looking for reasons to joke about that book, which among other things branded Bennett as the man to handle COVID. Bennett is proud of what he wrote, saying, "Actually, everything I preached I'm practicing. I said, opt for testing rather than lockdowns. I said, 100,000 tests [a day], and people told me it was a dream. But we're actually at 400,000! I said, protect the elderly – and we're executing a plan to do so. When I took office everything was falling apart. I said we needed a tool for oversight, that we needed technology, and I set up dozens of sewage testing sites. I'm implementing those exact views," he says.

"Anyone who wants hysteria won't get it from us. I want a government without drama, one that gets up in the morning and gets down to work. In this government we do that, we've been doing that for seven months."

Seven months after it was formed, the discourse is still focused on Bennett's predecessor. In a series of media interviews, Bennett inserted a video about the new quarantine regulations that sniped at Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who is still a key motif in nearly every issue.

Q: Are you still right-wing?

"I'm right-wing, and my positions haven't changed. I still oppose a Palestinian state. A lot of people on the Right tell me quietly that this is a good government. We agree on 70% of the issues. We agree we need better education, and need to fight crime, and build more homes. I feel like this government is saving us.

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"At the same time, I'm saying to people on the Right: 'Look, the prime minister is a man of the Right.' I stood up to the president of the US who asked me about opening a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem, and looked him straight in the eye and said, 'Mr. President, you're a true friend of Israel, but I can't answer because Israel has only one capital, Jerusalem, and it is the capital of only one country, Israel.' On the deepest subjects, things are very clear to me. The biggest is that this is a mixed government, but ultimately, that is the policy. In a historic meeting, we brought the entire coalition – Right and Left – to the Golan Heights and decided to double settlement there. It was an exciting move."

Q: You know, even people on the Left are in favor of keeping the Golan Heights.

"So why have we been stuck with only 25,000 Jews living there for decades?"

Q: Maybe because there aren't any jobs?

"Fine. We're working on it, because not too long from now, if we don't, the world will say that Syria has stabilized, let's give up the Golan Heights for the sake of peace."

Q: But when I try to count the achievements of the Right vs. the Left, I see that highway infrastructure development in Judea and Samaria has stopped; that a law has been passed to provide electricity to Bedouin; that Ayelet Shaked's citizenship law failed to pass; that tree-planted in the Negev has stopped; that settlement outposts are being demolished and there are hilltops in Judea and Samaria no one has touched for years.

"No, the opposite. For years, the government handed suitcases full of cash over to Hamas. When I took office, I stopped those transfers. The previous government canceled the Jerusalem Day flag march, and I reinstated it. I just don't make a fuss over every single thing. I told you about the consulate. We've also built in Judea and Samaria – my predecessor didn't build there under the Biden administration. Am I doing everything I want to do? No. When it comes to the tree plantings and the Bedouin, that same night people told me there had been threats and violence. There were a few who said not to plant the trees, and I said they should be planted the next day. There are laws, and they can bring in as many police as they need to – trees will be planted, and after that, I'm willing to talk with everyone.

"The Arab crime that exploded on us during Operation Guardian of the Walls is a matter that has been neglected for years. I set up a team of ministers under my leadership and we're making life miserable for criminal leaders in the Arab sector. Some have fled the country and we're using creative means to pursue them. I'm satisfied, but this is a unity government. It's true. This isn't a government of one side."

Q: You say there are no more suitcases of money for Hamas, but there was already money being deducted from Palestinian Authority [tax revenue], and Defense Minister Benny Gantz gave the PA a loan that will clearly never be paid back. Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej traveled to countries that donate to the PA and asked them to continue.

"This is a complicated government, because the guys on the Right were the ones who insisted on bringing us to a fifth election. They attached themselves to a person rather than to positions. It was a choice between putting the country into an endless spin, a rift, or dropping the ball on a number of issues. This led to a lag in military issues that I'm now closing. I made a decision. I've always invited our friends from the Bibi bloc to join us, but they need to decide which side their bread is buttered on. They made a wrong choice, days before the fifth election. I acted responsibly and I'm proud of it."

'There is a strategy to execute'  

Q: When you look at the unity government and the status quo, it appears as if the Left is violating it and the Right respects it."

"The left-wing side says the same thing. So the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. For the first time, there are no talks with the Palestinians. Instead, we are handling the Golan Heights and Hamas. That didn't exist with Bibi. After seven months of an aggressive approach, I said that an explosives-laden balloon would be met with the same response as a rocket. We're hitting Hamas targets after ignoring them for years, starting with the first arson balloon. A new national camp has arisen that doesn't depend on one person, but is founded on a path. As prime minister, I'm leading that camp. It's a camp that isn't based on rejecting others, but on activity. I'm an activist. I'm saying to our religious Zionist friends, on the Right, there is a prime minister who is right-wing, who wears a kippa. I'm a person of faith and that's important, because I act according to my values."

Q: How?

"In dealing with international leaders, I stand up for our interests. When it comes to Jerusalem, when it comes to the Land of Israel, when it comes to Iran."

Q: What is happening with Iran?

"We inherited a horrible legacy, even before the government was founded. Iran has enriched [uranium] to 60% in facilities it didn't used to have, and gone further than it ever has. When I entered office, I saw the size of the hole we'd been left. We are investing billions in building up our military prowess. That bolsters my right-wing views in the sense that we only have ourselves to depend on. I appreciate our friendship with America, but we need to defend ourselves, and not only with words."

Q: What does that mean, practically speaking?

"I look at Iran as an ongoing battle. For decades, Iran has been an octopus whose tentacles are gripping Israel and Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and Syria, and Israel has fallen into the trap and is bleeding, while Iran itself – the root of the evil – is safe and distant. We have a cold war by one side only – they hit us, and we don't hit them back. We're changing that equation. We're working every angle to weaken Iran … We'll keep taking action and we won't give up. It's no coincidence we stepped up the number of airstrikes in Syria, as well as the kind of strikes and quality of the targets. This is making things difficult for Iran."

Q: And when a new Iran nuclear deal is signed?

"The process toward a new deal in Vienna is very wrong. With or without a deal, we have a strategy to execute. Even if a new deal is signed, Israel won't be obligated to it. We aren't part of it, and Israel will retain full freedom of action in any situation. I'm implementing that daily and not only in words, but also in actions."

Q: Gantz has met with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, Lapid with his predicted successor, and former IDF Chief Gadi Eizenkot is talking about entering politics and a vision for two states. Is it possible that new Oslo Accords are being formed right under your nose, to be implemented as soon as the rotation for prime minister takes place?

"As long as I'm prime minister, there is no Oslo process, and if there will be one, there won't be a government. I oppose a Palestinian state and am also not allowing talks on the line of a Palestinian state."

Q: The frequent meetings with Abbas and his successor aren't feelers for a new Oslo deal?

"I won't meet with anyone who persecutes IDF soldiers in the [International Criminal Court] in The Hague and sends money to murderers. My partners – Gantz and Lapid – hold different views. They represent the Left's positions, and that's legitimate as long as when it comes to action, we stay within the common ground we established."

Q: These meetings aren't actions?

"No. My predecessor also met with Abbas a number of times, and with Palestinian flags waving in the background. It's not the end of the world. I'm not judging my partners. I'm allowing it. They don't have the authority to move on diplomatic issues. They are talking about economics, and I'm in favor of strengthening trade with the Palestinians."

'Not looking for a quick win'

Q: A year ago one could hear the education minister talking about vaccines, the health minister talking about making decisions based on data, and the finance minister talking about the Haredim or the settlements and know what Naftali Bennett thought. Now the public has the sense that it is certain about the prime minister's ideology.

"My values and views haven't changed. I'm a Jewish Israeli, a right-wing patriot, and my parents raised me on these values. That hasn't changed. What has become significant is that as prime minister I see supreme importance in unity and connection. We need to calm down. We lost the first and second temples, we won't get another chance and we don't need to highlight differences and increase hatred."

Q: Do you think the people understand that?

"That's my mission. I'm not looking for a quick win. I come with a different compass – I don't owe anything to any lobbyist, only to God and the people of Israel, and I believe that ultimately, the public wants these considerations and this path. Ideologically, the distance between a Yamina member and a Likud member isn't large. There is no dispute about the Land of Israel. The dispute is about the path we take. Do we curse and scream at each other? An hour after a former Supreme Court chief justice dies, do we take the approach of [MK Bezalel] Smotrich and say nasty things? They took the name 'Religious Zionist,' but they don't have the rights to that path. I was raised in religious Zionism, and it includes people who want to connect both sides."

Q: Your family is paying a heavy price. Is it worth it?

"The price is heavy. Especially for the kids, who didn't choose this and don't like it at all. I always try to bring them in, explain what Dad is doing. Forming this government was the hardest thing I've done in my life, harder than any business or political move. I knew that a huge machine generating poison and hatred would be aimed at me and my children. Before the fifth election, I called my kids and Gilat, my wife, who are not involved, and told them I was going to do something. When I realized Bibi couldn't form another government and that we'd soon be having another election, I knew the country couldn't take it. Things were paralyzed and there wasn't even a budget for the IDF. I told my family – 'They'll say Dad is a traitor and call us names.'"

Q: Is your family counting down until Lapid takes over as prime minister?

"The kids are. But we're OK. Shabbat is the calm time, that's the stability and the normalcy, and in that sense, home is a real haven. My family is suffering, but I'm at peace with the move. I'm a man of faith and I have great confidence that I made the right move: we are an effective government, and that's the biggest privilege I could dream of – carrying the baton of leadership for the Jewish state. It's not something to take for granted.

"This time of the year 80 years ago, the Wannsee Conference took place, where the German systematically planed the genocide of the Jewish people. The lesson I take from that is that we need to fight for the country tooth and nail. So even if I have to pay a heavy price, it's a price I pay with understanding."

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Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made "deeply offensive" comments when he suggested things are worse for people today than they were for Anne Frank, the teenager who died in a Nazi concentration camp after hiding with her family in a secret annex in an Amsterdam house for two years, several Jewish advocacy and Holocaust remembrance groups said Monday.

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"Making reckless comparisons to the Holocaust, the murder of six million Jews, for a political agenda is outrageous and deeply offensive. Those who carelessly invoke Anne Frank, the star badge, and the Nuremberg Trials exploit history and the consequences of hate," the US Holocaust Memorial Museum said Monday in a statement posted to Twitter.

1/ Making reckless comparisons to the Holocaust, the murder of six million Jews, for a political agenda is outrageous and deeply offensive. Those who carelessly invoke Anne Frank, the star badge, and the Nuremberg Trials exploit history and the consequences of hate.

— US Holocaust Museum (@HolocaustMuseum) January 24, 2022

A spokesman said the museum made the statement in response to Kennedy's speech and other recent incidents of people invoking the Holocaust for political purposes. The museum also pointed out that Anne Frank was one of the 1.5 million children who died during the Holocaust.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote on Twitter that Kennedy invoking Anne Frank's memory and the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis to make a comparison with the US government "working to ensure the health of its citizens is deeply inaccurate, deeply offensive and deeply troubling. This must stop."

Among the others condemning the comment was Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem, which said it "denigrates the memory of its victims and survivors."

.@RobertKennedyJr invoking Anne Frank's memory and the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis as a comparison to the U.S. gov't working to ensure the health of its citizens is deeply inaccurate, deeply offensive and deeply troubling. This must stop. https://t.co/CbvV10xMou

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 24, 2022

During a Sunday rally in Washington organized by his anti-vaccine nonprofit group Children's Health Defense, Kennedy complained that people's rights were being violated by public health measures that had been taken to reduce the number of people sickened and killed by COVID-19. He said the nation's leading infectious disease doctor, Anthony Fauci, was orchestrating "fascism."

"Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did," said Kennedy, a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of his slain brother, former US attorney general, civil rights activist and Democratic presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy.

Kennedy Jr. went on to say that today, "the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run and none of us can hide," and complained about 5G, the newest generation of wireless communication networks, and about vaccine passports.

An Associated Press investigation published last month detailed how Kennedy has invoked the specter of Nazis and the Holocaust in his work to sow doubts about vaccines and agitate against public health efforts to bring the pandemic under control, such as requiring masks or vaccine mandates.

In a speech to the Ron Paul Institute in October, for example, Kennedy referenced Nazis multiple times, obliquely comparing public health measures put in place by governments around the world to Nazi propaganda meant to scare people into abandoning critical thinking. Last month, he put out a video that showed a picture of Fauci with a Hitler mustache.

In an email sent by a spokeswoman on Monday, Kennedy described his statement as "a factual observation that technology has given an arsenal of frightening instrumentalities to totalitarian elements."

"I referred to Anne Frank's terrible two-year ordeal only by way of showing that modern surveillance capacity would make her courageous feat virtually impossible today," he said.

Kennedy said he "compared no one to the Nazis or Adolf Hitler," but did not immediately address other instances when he has invoked Nazis and Hitler to make a political point.

Kennedy apologized in 2015, after he used the word "holocaust" to describe children whom he believes were hurt by vaccines. He said at the time that he "employed the term during an impromptu speech."

That he has continued to use such comparisons indicates that "he means it," said Dr. David Gorski, a cancer surgeon at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit and a critic of the anti-vaccine movement who has tracked Kennedy's rhetoric for over 15 years. Gorski said Kennedy has been making Nazi and Holocaust references in relation to vaccines since at least 2013.

In the past few years, Gorski said, Kennedy has been more open about using such language, which he said may indicate Kennedy senses it resonates with the new fan base he has built up during the pandemic, or that the consequences of using such language aren't "unacceptably negative."

The AP investigation documented how Kennedy had grown his group during the pandemic, expanding his audience and pulling in millions of dollars in new funding.

Gorski said the language demonstrates one of the ways Kennedy likes to connect with his audience: buttering them up by portraying them as going against the flow and smarter than everyone else.

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"If vaccine mandates are totalitarian like Nazis and the Soviet Union and that sort of thing, what does that make the anti-vaxxers? They're brave freedom fighters," Gorski said. "There's flattery in those analogies."

Aryeh Tuchman of the ADL's Center on Extremism said Kennedy's repeated comments invoking the Holocaust were shocking. Such rhetoric ratchets up tensions and leads to the demonization of people who disagree, whipping up anger and rage, Tuchman said, adding that the repeated comments showed Kennedy had a callous disregard for the feelings of Jewish people.

"These analogies are historically racist and hurtful to Jews and, frankly, to anyone who has a historical memory of who the Nazis were and what they did," Tuchman said. "Anything in the pursuit of his agenda."

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Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day next Thursday, Jan. 27, the Combat Antisemitism Movement has released a comprehensive Internet monitoring data report revealing the scope of the rising trend of Holocaust trivialization – including comparisons of the Nazi genocide to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The study, conducted by Buzzilla, an online and social media monitoring agency, scanned online content over a two-year period (January 2020-December 2021) from social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as other news websites, forums and blogs, and user comments on media portals, in six languages, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic and Hebrew.

By isolating specific word combinations, the scanning identified more than 60 million online engagements (posts, comments, reactions, shares) in which the Holocaust and the COVID-19 pandemic were tied together, with a vast majority, nearly 57 million, taking place in English. Hebrew was second place with 2.6 million engagements, and Spanish third with 2.1 million engagements.

The data was compiled as part of CAM's global campaign against Holocaust trivialization, in partnership with the International March of the Living. The report was released a few days before the United Nations General Assembly voted on a historic resolution against Holocaust denial, formulated by Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan, which will also focus on the need for online and social media companies to curtail distortions of the Holocaust.

Over the last two years, Holocaust trivialization has become increasingly mainstream among many politicians, grassroots movements, in the media, and online, representing a distortion of history and a direct affront to the memory of the victims and the dignity of survivors. Often inflamed by politicians, yellow-star protesters are marching in the streets of their cities and showing up at school board and city council meetings across the world. Some have given Nazi salutes and shouted Heil Hitler.

Some of the more high-profile trivializations include politicians from across Europe, the US and Israel comparing pandemic restrictions to Nazi measures against Jews during the Holocaust. "Never Again" was daubed on a Holocaust memorial in Germany together with an anti-vaccine sign, and the slogan "Vaccination sets you free" was chanted at a demonstration in Poland.

"The trivialization of Nazi Germany's crimes against humanity fuels Holocaust deniers who seek to downplay Nazi transgressions, and allowing it to flourish unchecked has created safe spaces for antisemitic conspiracies, outright Holocaust denial, and other extremist ideologies to spread," said CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa.

"These comparisons have opened a gateway for the revival of age-old antisemitic conspiracies including blaming Jews for the pandemic as purveyors of disease and accusing Jews of a vast conspiracy for global control through mandates. This trend minimizes both Holocaust remembrance and Jewish concerns for safety during an already-resurgent wave of global antisemitism," continued Dratwa.

"The memory of the Holocaust is a cornerstone in the fight against antisemitism, and I call on top decision-makers, internet giants, and all people to take this alarming trend seriously," he added.

Holocaust survivors from around the world are incensed by these comparisons and are speaking out against the trivialization of the horrors they suffered. Responding to comparisons of the Chief Medical Adviser to the President of United States Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla – himself the son of Holocaust survivors – to the infamous Nazi Dr. Mengele, Vera Grossman Kriegel, aged 84, who as a child was subjected to Mengele's cruel medical experiments at Auschwitz, said comparisons of what she experienced to Covid-19 health measures, particularly vaccines, were greatly disturbing.

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"Those who compare the two do not understand deep enough, and do not know enough about the Holocaust, because there is nothing to compare," she said. "These were atrocities for which there are no words to describe. In the Holocaust, they sought only to kill people, including with injections. Mengele gave us injections for experiments that did not value human life. We receive shots today to live, whereas in the Holocaust we received them to die."

Dita Kraus, 93, another Holocaust survivor, expressed similar sentiments. "In the Holocaust, they wanted to exterminate the Jews. The 'Green Pass' exterminates Jews? That's simply ridiculous. The comparison is so absurd, it is impossible to compare the Holocaust to anything. The Holocaust was unique, nothing is like the industrial-scale extermination of people in gas chambers. Nothing compares to this, and nothing ever will."

Other survivors joining the call to act against Holocaust trivialization include Gabriella Karin (Los Angeles), Haim Roth (Israel) and Estelle Nadel (Colorado), Max Eisen and Sally Wasserman (Canada), Gideon Lev (Israel), Aliza Landau (Israel), Dr. Peter Kraus (Australia), Sara Rus (Argentina) and Luis Opatowski Goldberg (Mexico), Werner Reich (USA).

International March of the Living President Phyllis Heideman said: "Holocaust trivialization is a gateway to outright Holocaust denial, and we must act decisively against it. The fact that Holocaust survivors who are still with us must witness this is outrageous and unfortunate. With historical truth under attack, the International March of the Living will continue to promote Holocaust education and pass on the memory of the Holocaust to future generations."

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Israel on Wednesday passed the grim milestone of 2 million coronavirus cases since the first positive test was recorded on Feb. 21, 2020, according to the latest Health Ministry data.

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While the total number of documented coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic stands at 2,006,131, the actual number is likely much higher as the Jewish state struggles to keep its database coordinated with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Of the 458,232 Israelis who tested for the virus Wednesday, 71,844 were found to have the disease, for an infection rate of 17.07%. There are 388,3923 active cases of the virus. There are 541 people in serious condition, 105 of whom are on ventilators. 

Although 1,638,440 Israelis have recovered from the virus, 8,362 have died.  

Around 145,000 students are currently confirmed to have COVID, while some 142,000 are now in quarantine due to having been exposed to a confirmed carrier. 

In a press conference Wednesday, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said, "We expect a short wave whose peak we will see soon, after which there will be a decline. We must adhere to the guidelines in the coming weeks. 

"We are providing all the tools: a consistent supply of vaccines, medicines that go from the healthcare providers to patients' homes, and testing on a massive scale of 400,000 [tests] a day. We have embarked on a huge initiative to distribute millions of home tests for free. It's a matter of social solidarity. We are both maintaining health and the market. We will continue to balance health, the economy, and democracy," he said.

Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash acknowledged the overwhelming nature of the highly infectious Omicron strain fueling the current fifth wave in an interview with Tel Aviv-based 103FM Radio Tuesday.

"Our estimate is that there are at least two or three times [the official daily case count]," said Ash. "It is not impossible that we're at 200,000 verified cases a day."

In the interview, Ash predicted that the current outbreak would peak "in another week or so."

He also warned daily cases would increase in the coming week as he noted serious cases requiring hospitalization were on the rise.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has released new findings that point to children and adolescents vaccinated against COVID-19 being better protected against the Omicron variant than the unvaccinated.

The study, conducted in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer's Gertner Institute, found vaccines administered in the past few months to be effective against the ultra-contagious variant.

Children aged 5 to 11 who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were half as likely to be infected with Omicron than unvaccinated children, the study found. 

Additionally, adolescents aged 12 to 15 who received a booster dose within the last two months were four times less likely to be infected than those who did not.

In total, only about 12% of children aged 5 to 11 in Israel have received two doses of vaccine, and less than 12% of children aged 12 to 15 have received three doses.

Over 4.3 million people have received three doses of vaccine, and over 530,000 people have received four doses.

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The worst of the coronavirus pandemic – deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns – could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly, the head of emergencies at the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

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Dr. Michael Ryan, speaking during a panel discussion on vaccine inequity hosted by the World Economic Forum, said "we may never end the virus" because such pandemic viruses "end up becoming part of the ecosystem."

But "we have a chance to end the public health emergency this year if we do the things that we've been talking about," he said.

WHO has slammed the imbalance in COVID-19 vaccinations between rich and poor countries as a catastrophic moral failure. Fewer than 10% of people in lower-income countries have received even one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Ryan told the virtual gathering of world and business leaders that if vaccines and other tools aren't shared fairly, the tragedy of the virus, which has so far killed more than 5.5 million people worldwide, would continue.

"What we need to do is get to low levels of disease incidence with maximum vaccination of our populations, so nobody has to die," Ryan said. "The issue is: It's the death. It's the hospitalizations. It's the disruption of our social, economic, political systems that's caused the tragedy – not the virus."

Ryan also waded into the growing debate about whether COVID-19 should be considered endemic, a label some countries like Spain have called for to better help live with the virus, or still a pandemic – involving intensified measures that many countries have taken to fight the spread.

"Endemic malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people; endemic HIV; endemic violence in our inner cities. Endemic in itself does not mean good. Endemic just means it's here forever," he said.

Public health officials have warned it is highly unlikely COVID-19 will be eliminated and say it will continue to kill people, though at much lower levels, even after it becomes endemic.

Fellow panelist Gabriela Bucher, executive director of the anti-poverty organization Oxfam International, cited the "enormous urgency" of fairer distribution of vaccines and the need for large-scale production. She said resources to fight the pandemic were being "hoarded by a few companies and a few shareholders."

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, decried the "total collapse of global cooperation and solidarity" over the last two years, saying it was "totally unacceptable" how few people in Africa have gotten vaccine shots. His agency says only 10% of Africa's 1.2 billion people are fully vaccinated.

He also sought to douse the belief among some that vaccine hesitancy is widespread in Africa, citing studies that say 80% of Africans were ready to get shots if the vaccines were available.

The comments came on the second day of the online alternative to the annual World Economic Forum gathering, which was postponed over pandemic health concerns.

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Novak Djokovic risks being frozen out of tennis as he chases a record 21st Grand Slam title, with rules on travelers who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 tightening in the third year of the pandemic and some tournaments reconsidering exemptions.

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The Serbian, who has not been vaccinated, was deported from Australia on Sunday ahead of the Australian Open after losing a court case to have the cancellation of his visa overturned.

Under Australian law, Djokovic cannot get another visa for three years – denying him the chance to add to his nine titles at Melbourne Park – but the government has left the door open for a possible return next year.

The world number one, however, faces more immediate hurdles in his bid to overtake Swiss Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafa Nadal, with whom he is tied on 20 major titles, as he could be barred from the French Open as things stand.

The French Sports Ministry said on Monday there would be no exemption from a new vaccine pass law approved on Sunday, which requires people to have vaccination certificates to enter public places such as restaurants, cafes and cinemas.

"This will apply to everyone who is a spectator or a professional sportsperson. And this until further notice," the ministry said.

"As far as Roland Garros is concerned, it's in May. The situation may change between now and then and we hope it'll be more favorable. So we'll see but clearly there's no exemption."

The ministry's stance was welcomed by Germany's world number three Alexander Zverev.

"At least it's clear what's going to happen," he told reporters after winning his opening match at Melbourne Park on Monday. "At least they're saying, 'OK, no unvaccinated players are allowed to play in the French Open.'

"We know that now in advance, and I can imagine there's not going to be any exemptions, and that's OK."

The next tournament on Djokovic's calendar is likely to be the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships from Feb. 21-26.

A spokesperson for the event told Reuters that all players would need to provide negative PCR tests before being allowed into the United Arab Emirates.

"(Players) will then need to adhere to the testing protocols and processes stipulated by the ATP and the WTA," the spokesperson added.

Organizers of the Monte Carlo Masters, which Djokovic has won twice, are awaiting French government guidelines for the next edition in April, while Wimbledon organizers AELTC are also yet to finalize safety arrangements for the major.

However, England's Lawn Tennis Association said entry requirements for its events, some of which serve as Wimbledon warm-ups, would be determined by the government.

Currently, unvaccinated people can enter England but must isolate for 10 days.

A US Open representative said last week that the year's final major would follow New York City Department of Health guidelines.

Djokovic could have trouble even getting into the United States, because foreign air travelers have had to be fully vaccinated since November and provide proof before boarding flights, with limited exceptions.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said there are no exceptions for vaccine requirements "for religious reasons or other moral convictions."

That rule could also impact Djokovic's participation in US hardcourt tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami in March.

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The leader of the US-based anti-vaxxer group Vaccine Police is touting the ultimate do-it-yourself cure for COVID-19 and claiming that anyone who contracts the virus can cure themselves by drinking their own urine.

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According to a report on the Daily Beast, Christopher Key is an advocate of what he calls "urine therapy." Key has posted a video to his Telegram account in which he says that urine is an appropriate treatment for COVID, claiming: "The antidote that we have seen now, and we have tons and tons of research, is urine therapy. OK, and I know to a lot of you this sounds crazy, but guys, God's given us everything we need."

It should be noted that the accepted use of the term "antidote" is in reference to a medicine that counteracts a specific poison, not a virus.

Key has called vaccines a "crime against humanity" and a "biological weapon" and called for pharmacists who administer vaccines to be executed.

The body produces urine as a way of ridding itself of nitrogen-rich byproducts of the metabolic process, such as urea, uric acid, and creatinine. There is also no scientific evidence to date that indicates that ingesting urine can cure or prevent any illness.

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