On a cold night three days before the end of the 2020 I drove down to Jerusalem’s Pais Arena. The area is usually a sports venue, next to Jerusalem’s stadium and mall, but in December it was transformed into a centre for mass vaccinations, open from morning till ten in the evening. By the first day of 2021 Israel had vaccinated more than 1 million people in two weeks, an unprecedented number, making the country a global leader in vaccinating against Covid-19. I was one of those who received the first jab of the Pfizer vaccine.
Israel’s path to this milestone has been a rollercoaster of lockdowns and struggles over the last year. Back in February 2020 the country was on alert for the spread of the coronavirus. Italy had put a dozen towns into lockdown on February 22 and Israel was planning for a worst-case scenario. Many Israelis felt the government at the time was being
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