Israeli vaccine chief: “We have made mistakes”; finally a public health official/scientist, accepting responsibility & saying they were wrong; COVID will be “like flu”...big praise for honesty

The biggest mistake of the pandemic in Israel was closing schools and education – he apologized for that; Widespread infection is now an inevitable part of future immunity — otherwise known as herd immunity

Everything he said here, I and others GBD have said day 1 and we were smeared and slandered…took them 2 years and slandering us and killing hundreds of thousands with no early treatment, a failed vaccine, and lockdowns and school closures…

https://unherd.com/thepost/israeli-vaccine-chief-we-have-made-mistakes/

Professor Cyrille Cohen is head of Immunology at Bar Ilan University and a member of the advisory committee for vaccines for the Israeli Government. In a wide-ranging and forthright interview, the Professor tells Freddie Sayers:

• The Green Pass / vaccine passport concept is no longer relevant in the Omicron era and should be phased out (he expects it to be in short order in Israel)

• He and his colleagues were surprised and disappointed that the vaccines did not prevent transmission, as they had originally hoped

• The biggest mistake of the pandemic in Israel was closing schools and education – he apologized for that

• Widespread infection is now an inevitable part of future immunity — otherwise known as herd immunity

• Omicron has accelerated the pandemic into the endemic phase, in which COVID will be “like flu” 

• KEY QUOTES:

  Especially with Omicron, where we don’t see virtually any difference, there is a very narrow gap between people vaccinated and non-vaccinated, both can get infected with a virus, more or less at the same pace.

  - CYRILLE COHEN, UNHERDTV 

• On the behavioral science behind the Green Pass:

  You have also to understand that the Green Pass is not necessarily — and that’s not a secret — it’s not necessarily to prevent transmission. It’s also to encourage people to get vaccinated. And I don’t want to touch upon the political aspects of the green pass. But this is a reality.

  - CYRILLE COHEN, UNHERDTV 

• On the risks and rewards of herd immunity:

  Herd immunity is a consequence for me. It’s not an objective, it’s not a goal. There is a thin nuance here, if I may say, that people have to grasp. I’m not saying to people go and get infected, I don’t think that this is a model that we need to adopt.

  - CYRILLE COHEN, UNHERDTV 

• On Israeli school closures:

  There is one mistake, I think that we made, and that I’m extremely sorry for that. We have made a few mistakes, but it was education. For me education was the thing we shouldn’t have touched. Never, never.

  - CYRILLE COHEN, UNHERDTV 

• On the acceleration from pandemic to endemic:

  I think it’s going to be like flu, I think there is going to be bad waves and better waves, with a better immunity at the level of the population, with better vaccines with better treatment. In that sense, and I’m extremely cautious, there is a possibility that Omicron will accelerate that transition.

  - CYRILLE COHEN, UNHERDTV 

• On vaccine mandates:

  I think that vaccination is a personal choice. And I always said, I believe it is so. But that choice has some consequences. And here, there is a problem in society. If you are over 50, 60, and you’re saying I don’t want to get vaccinated, will you be, and I’m gonna ask a provocative question, will you be willing to renounce on the possibility of getting taken care of in hospitals?