The State of Israel is quickly approaching the fifty-percent mark of population that has received the second shot of the Covid vaccine. The country is reopening schools, gyms, movie theaters, malls, and hotels. Have we seen the last of Covid? I understand that people have been on edge and their patience has run out, but if I look at what experts are saying, I don’t see that they are so excited over what seems like rash behavior.
Children, for example, are not vaccinated. If we send them back to school, we know what will happen. The virus today is not what it was when it first appeared. It is affecting children, and even embryos, so how can we let children huddle up in cramped classrooms where they will certainly infect each other? And if they become sick, how will it affect their parents? How will it affect their siblings? Once again, decisions are made according to political interests and not according to medical considerations, and everyone is paying the price.
I understand that people want to have fun, but since when is this a factor in a government’s decisions? In the summer, people love going to the beach and swimming in the water. But if the water is contaminated, and dipping in the water puts people’s lives at risk, would people still go in the water? Would the authorities allow them to risk themselves and get in the water? In an orderly country, authorities have the authority to do what is right for the public; this is why they are called “authorities.”
Regrettably, the fact that politicians endorse policies that score them points in the public opinion because of the approaching election, regardless of the public’s safety, only proves that their interest is not our health, but the promotion of their own political careers. We should be more adamant in what we demand from our elected officials.
If we want to see the end of Covid, we have to focus on two things: 1) Let the health professionals hash out the solution among themselves, without interference from politicians and other interested bodies, and then follow their directives. 2) Unite our ranks, enhance our solidarity as a nation. We cannot erase our many differences, but we can, and must, elevate the value of unity above any personal opinion. These are the only tools we have to beat the virus. In fact, the latter tool will solve not only our Covid crisis, but all the crises we are facing now or will face in the future.
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