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.