Bennett touts Israel's 3-pronged strategy for beating COVID-19 at UN

• Published date: 28 September 2021
• Author: MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Israel is "on course to escape the fourth wave without a lockdown, without further harm to our economy," Bennett said on Monday in New York as he delivered his first-ever address to the high-level opening session of a United Nations General Assembly, at the 76th being held now.

He said that the Israeli model has three guiding principles: The country must stay open, vaccinate early, and adapt and move quickly.

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"Our model, rather than locking people down in passive sleep-mode, recruits them to the effort," he said, noting how Israel asked parents to test their children before returning to school on September 1 but kept its classrooms open so far this year.

Children in Jewish Israeli schools have had less than 10 active days of school so far this semester because of the High Holidays and Sukkot. They are expected to test again on Wednesday and return to school on Thursday. Those first few days sent more than 150,000 children into quarantine.

"Right from the start, Israelis were quick to get vaccinated," Bennett continued, a push that was first made under his predecessor, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We are in a race against a deadly virus, and we must try to be ahead of it.

"In July, we were the first to learn that the vaccines were waning – which is what brought a surge in Delta cases," he said. "It was then when my government decided to administer a third dose of vaccine – the booster – to the Israeli public."

Bennett said that Israel "pioneered the booster shot" instead of dragging citizens into yet another set of lockdowns – and now, the country's data shows that the third shot works.

"With a third dose, you're seven times more protected than with two doses, and 40 times more protected than without any vaccine," he said. "I'm glad that our actions have inspired other countries to follow with the booster."

Finally, he spoke about his decision to form a national task force that meets daily in an effort to "bypass slow governmental bureaucracy, make quick decisions and act on them right away."

Using a reference from his hi-tech background, where start-ups are trained not to be afraid to fail, he said "trial and error is key" in managing COVID.

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