Dramatic change: What does Moshe Bar Siman Tov think about the 'day after' the vaccine?

December 8, 2020   

Former Director General of the Ministry of Health, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, addressed today (Tuesday), at the International Dialogue Conference on Strategic Leadership between Israel, Australia and Britain, initiated by Jewish philanthropist and businessman Albert Dadon, the start of vaccinations in Britain and the expectation of their arrival in Israel. What is a “shared car price list”? How will the prices be displayed in the price list? All the details ""We are already beginning to see the end of the pandemic, and I want to congratulate Britain on starting the vaccination process for its citizens. We hope to begin vaccinating in the coming weeks in Israel. Now we have to think about what the day after will look like. Even after the vaccination, some of the restrictions we have taken will have to remain," he said. As part of the annual dialogue conference with the participation of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and other senior officials, Bar Siman Tov was asked by those present about Israeli policy in dealing with the coronavirus. Would you require the public to be vaccinated? ""No. But even if only 50% of the population gets vaccinated, we will see a dramatic change. I will get vaccinated and so will my family. That is the most important task - to get the population vaccinated and then we can return to as normal a situation as possible."" What do you think about the Shin Bet's threats and how long will they last? ""The Shin Bet icons were as useful as we thought they would be. Not all Israelis use smartphones that can be tracked. There were a number of private companies that offered their digital surveillance services, but we preferred that the government do it under strict supervision.". - What do you think about those who say we should adopt models from abroad? Like New Zealand and Taiwan.  ""Determining policy to deal with the pandemic stems from demographic, political and social considerations, and there is no single model that we can replicate. We cannot say that we should adopt the Australian, Taiwanese or New Zealand model. That simply would not be true. Israel is a country with the lowest median age in the world, and the percentage of children in the population is high. The average number of children per family is more than three in Israel, and that changes the whole picture in relation to other countries.".