The coronavirus pandemic is behind us, but in an extensive report published today (Tuesday), State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman refers to the vaccination campaign.
The Comptroller found that most reports of vaccine side effects, submitted by health funds and hospitals, were not recorded in the Ministry of Health's computer systems due to technical malfunctions. The Comptroller also notes that the Ministry and the Publicity Office for the Fight Against Coronavirus did not explain to the public how to deal with 'fake news' regarding vaccines.
In the report, the State Comptroller specifies that vaccinating the population against the coronavirus was one of the main tools for dealing with the virus, and Israel, led by the Ministry of Health, was even one of the first countries in the world to vaccinate against it, which contributed significantly to saving the lives of thousands of Israelis.
Since the start of the vaccination campaign in December 2020, the rate of vaccination in Israel with two doses of the vaccine has increased sharply until the end of March 2021, when the vaccination rate reached 50.91% of the total population. This compares to the European Union, which at that time had a vaccination rate of 5.11%, and a global average of 1.81%.
However, from that date, the rate of vaccinations in Israel began to moderate: by the end of November 2022, the rate of vaccinations with two doses of vaccine was 65.2%, compared to a rate of 72.9% in the European Union and a global average of 63%.
A similar trend is also emerging regarding the third vaccine - in Israel, which was the first to vaccinate with this vaccine, there was a sharp increase in the rate of vaccinations with the start of the third vaccine. At the end of November 2022, the rate of vaccinations in Israel with the third dose was 59.6%, compared to a rate of 60.6% in the European Union and a global average of 33%.
The State Comptroller notes that the audit revealed that the rate of those vaccinated with the third dose of the vaccine among those aged 60 and over in the localities examined in Arab society and in Haredi society reached 60%-62%, compared to a rate of 86% in the general population.
The auditor also found that the Ministry of Health's computer systems did not record information regarding approximately 821 out of the 354,200 reports of side effects from the coronavirus vaccine, which were forwarded to it by medical entities such as health insurance funds and hospitals - due to technical malfunctions in the interface to the Nahaliel system (the Ministry of Health's vaccine database). As a result, the public was not informed about the side effects of the coronavirus vaccines.
The audit also revealed that the Ministry of Health and the Information Headquarters for the Fight Against Coronavirus did not act to explain to the public the ways to deal with false information regarding vaccines, did not formulate a strategy for dealing with false information, and did not operate an organized and systematic mechanism to deal with it.
The Comptroller examined the impact of the coronavirus on public attitudes regarding routine vaccinations. It was found that approximately 571% of parents who participated in a survey by the Government Advertising Bureau in August 2022 expressed concern about permanent harm that would be caused to their children as a result of vaccinations in general, compared to approximately 461% of parents in 2016. Indeed, an examination of the vaccination data for children in routine vaccinations in the years 2017-2022 revealed a noticeable decrease in the proportion of children vaccinated in these years.
Public trust in the healthcare system, fear of the side effects of the coronavirus vaccine, the false information disseminated about the coronavirus vaccine - all of these were some of the factors that may affect the population's vaccination.
The Comptroller recommends that the Ministry of Health draw lessons and correct the deficiencies identified in the report, including establishing a smart system for managing, monitoring, and controlling reports on side effects received from various sources.
The Comptroller recommends that the National Information Headquarters, in cooperation with relevant government ministries such as the Ministry of Health, formulate a strategy and combat doctrine (CTD) for dealing with the spread of false information in civil emergency events such as the outbreak of a pandemic.
Ministry of Health response: "The Ministry of Health respects the work of the State Comptroller and will further study the conclusions, but the report does not reflect the ministry's work during the pandemic or the reality that health systems around the world and in Israel in particular have faced. Despite what is stated in the report, the State of Israel has received praise around the world for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and the ministry is proud of its work and its professional and dedicated teams."
Regarding the criticism of the side effects of vaccines, it was stated: "Israel was the first to identify and report the side effects of vaccines - including inflammation of the heart muscle, and published it transparently to the public in Israel and around the world. This was made possible thanks to the reporting system for side effects of drugs and vaccines that has existed in the Ministry of Health for many years."
It was further stated: "When the pandemic began, the ministry initiated the establishment of an additional computerized reporting system in order to facilitate reporting, while at the same time monitoring continued in the regular system while manually tracking the reports. All reports received through the interface from the health insurance funds were reviewed. Since there were dozens of reports that did not contain critical information or were not related to corona vaccines at all, it was agreed that the reports would be reported manually and analyzed by Ministry of Health employees. In addition, to improve reporting directly from citizens, the ministry established an identified form during the pandemic in which a side effect after corona vaccination can be reported and recruited an additional professional team to analyze the findings in real time. These were also published with full transparency to the public."
Response from the National Publicity Headquarters: "During the coronavirus pandemic, the National Publicity Directorate and the Ministry of Health operated a special team to monitor and initiate fake news, which provided real-time responses to false information existing on the network. Initially, the Ministry of Health operated this task force, and later it became the joint responsibility of the Publicity Directorate and the Ministry of Health, under the management of the Publicity Advisor for the Fight Against Coronavirus hired by the Publicity Directorate. As also reported in the response to the State Comptroller on 6/29/2021.
"In addition, the National Publicity Headquarters has long since begun formulating a national public relations plan to deal with fake news. As part of the National Publicity Organization's plan to establish a national public relations task force, the intention is also to establish a task force to monitor and initiate fake news. This task force will address both false information in the political-security fields and in civilian areas, such as the coronavirus pandemic."
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