Yonatan the shopkeeper at work in Kiryat Yearim (Nathan Jeffay/The Times of Israel)
Israel’s Haredi communities, which suffered particularly badly from COVID-19 infections and deaths, also trail general society in vaccinations.
After four months of a world-leading inoculation campaign in Israel, a country of 9.3 million citizens, the vast majority of the population aged 16-plus and eligible for vaccines has received at least one shot. But there are around 800,000 people who aren’t reporting for vaccines and health authorities are having little success in persuading them.
Among the general population aged 16-plus, meaning those people who are eligible for coronavirus shots, some 87% are protected from infection by a vaccine or by virtue of being a recovered patient. In the ultra-Orthodox community, the figure is 69%, despite many leading rabbis publicizing their decision to get vaccinated and urging people to follow their lead.
Screen capture from video of Rabbi Yuval HaCohen Asherov speaking about the COVID-19 outbreak. (YouTube)
The Health Ministry on Sunday warned the public against the exhortations of anti-vaccination Rabbi Yuval Hacohen Asherov, who has been accused of fueling fears about the shots, during a general slowdown in the country’s mass inoculation program.
The rabbi is “misleading and irresponsibly endangering his listeners,” the ministry said in a statement.
It noted that Asherov “does not hold a license for medical practice or any other health profession… His claims are dangerous and misleading to the public and private individuals.”
Asherov, who advises numerous Israeli celebrities, has released videos falsely claiming that the vaccines cause infertility and damage to the immune system, and can even be fatal.
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Feb. 14, 2021
The Health Ministry released a public warning on Sunday against Rabbi Yuval Hacohen Asherov, asserting that his statements against the coronavirus vaccine are dangerous.
Asherov, who says he deals in “the wisdom of the Kabbalah and natural heath,” recently posted a video clip where he falsely claims that the COVID-19 vaccine damages fertility and can be fatal. The clip has gotten hundreds of thousands of hits and a great deal of attention, although it negates scientific knowledge about the vaccine.
the public, the Health Ministry notes that Asherov is not licensed to practice medicine or any other health profession, nor is he licensed to practice physical therapy, as was reported in some media outlets.
Health Ministry battles rabbi over unfounded vaccine claims
Yuval Hacohen Aherov, longtime vaccination opponent who presents himself as man of medicine , says coronavirus vaccines turned Israeli public into guinea pigs and pathogen is merely the flu; his videos have had hundreds of thousands of views
Korin Elbaz Alush |
Published: 02.08.21 , 14:19
Rabbi Yuval Hacohen Asherov is not a professionally trained doctor and has no authority to give medical advice, but presents himself as a man of medicine as he casts doubt on the recommendations of health experts - even when it comes to matters of life and death.
Many doctors have refuted his claims and the Health Ministry, which is trying to have his videos removed, has issued a warning about their content.