Why Israel is partying like it's 2019, while most of Asia is stuck in 2020
Like club-goers everywhere brought down to earth by Covid-19, Roy Fridman can't wait to attend his next festival or rave. Unlike most revellers, Fridman, who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, won't have to wait long.
From Sunday, Israel's nightclubs will reopen their doors for the first time in a year, the latest sign of the rapid return to normal the Middle Eastern country is enjoying thanks to its world-leading vaccination drive.
The return of the country's famed nightclubs, which shut last March, comes a fortnight after authorities gave the greenlight to reopening restaurants, cafes and bars.
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"The mood is amazing, it's like Covid never happened," said Fridman, who runs Spoons, an outdoor electronic music venue in Tel Aviv, which is often referred to as the party capital of the Middle East.
Vaccines. Image: SCMP alt=Vaccines. Image: SCMP
While Fridman doesn't plan to reopen his own venue until April - in part due to the challenge of finding staff while the government pays out generous unemployment subsidies during the pandemic - he has been reliving "old feelings and memories" at bustling restaurants and bars for the past several weeks.
"People party now like madness," he said. "All the restaurants and bars feel like Independence Day."
"There is definitely pride for the success in vaccinations, we're very happy to be back to normal."
In just over three months, Israel has administered a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to more than 55 per cent of its 9 million residents. Nearly half the population is fully vaccinated after receiving a second dose, compared to about one-fifth of the population in the United States and single digits coverage or less across most of Asia.
While supply issues have held up the delivery of vaccines to many countries, Israel received its first doses of the Pfizer jab in December, after striking a deal early on for 10 million doses in exchange for the manufacturer's access to patient information.
"They were hit very hard by SARS-CoV-2 and when they saw the vaccines coming, they recognised very early that this would be a path out of it and they actually bought vaccines for the entire population," said Jonathan M. Zenilman, a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The results have been striking, with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine proving 98.9 per cent effective in preventing death and 95.8 per cent effective in stopping all illness, according to data from Israel's Ministry of Health.
Coronavirus cases have plummeted to about one-eighth of their daily peak of 12,000 in January, while deaths this week dropped into single figures for the first time this year. The country, which was hit hard by three waves and the UK and South African variants of the virus, has seen just over 6,000 deaths during the pandemic so far.
The country has not yet returned to complete normality. Nightclubs and concert venues will be initially limited to 300 patrons, who will be required to wear masks, and many other venues continue to be capped at 75 per cent capacity. Entry to many establishments and events requires a "green passport" that shows a person has been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19, sparking ethical concerns in some quarters.
UN human rights experts have also criticised the Israeli government for not ensuring access to vaccines for Palestinians in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza, where vaccinations have barely gotten under way.
Nir Mamon, resident DJ and manager at Atlanta TLV in Tel Aviv. Photo: Handout alt=Nir Mamon, resident DJ and manager at Atlanta TLV in Tel Aviv. Photo: Handout
But the celebratory mood in Israel nonetheless offers a tantalising glimpse of the post-pandemic future promised by mass vaccination, especially as many countries - including in Asia, where authorities won plaudits for keeping the virus under control - struggle to get their vaccine roll-outs up to speed.
Micha Barchana, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Haifa, said the success of Israel's vaccination drive rested on its advanced and easily accessible system of universal health care.
"Most people have a relatively close-by clinic where they can get vaccinated at no cost," Barchana said. "Of course a good planning of cues and referrals also contributes and the fact that those clinics transformed in part to vaccination centres operating all day till late at evening, helped a lot."
Barchana said Israel had also learned from being an "emergency state" with a history of conflict with its neighbours, and had benefited from being small and relatively densely populated.
"Historically in the country when a crisis comes - war for example - people are keen to work together, and that is for example how they transformed a basketball arena into a vaccination centre anyone could come to, regardless of the HMO he is enrolled to," he said, referring to the four health insurance organisations that form the basis of the county's health system.
Nir Mamon, resident DJ and manager at Atlanta TLV in Tel Aviv, said Israelis had embraced the vaccines as "most people realise this is our only way out".
"Nightlife is slowly opening back up," Mamon said. "People are anxious to go out and celebrate."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2021. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
