Countries cancelling COVID vaccine passports for those without booster shots by Celeste McGovern for Life Site News
Israel, Austria, and Croatia are requiring citizens to top up their shots due to failing vaccine protection. The move is not unthinkable in the U.S., where the Biden administration has announced plans for upcoming booster shots.
As data shows vaccines against COVID-19 are failing to offer lasting immune protection, countries including Israel and Austria are cancelling “out-of-date” vaccine passports and demanding that citizens and visitors get booster shots to top up their vaccine status.
‘Updating what it means to be vaccinated’
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Israeli data shows Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine efficacy has dropped from a relative risk reduction of 95% during its early trials to just 39% by the end of July, so now the Israeli government is pressuring citizens to take a third “booster” dose, saying its vaccine passports will expire after six months for those who’ve only had two experimental shots.
Israel’s “Green Pass” demonstrating receipt of two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine – which allows citizens to participate in ordinary activities including dining out, going to the gym, attending conference and entertainment venues – will now be linked to the timing of their last dose of vaccine or booster shot.
“We are updating what it means to be vaccinated,” Israel’s coronavirus czar, Salman Zarka, told reporters Sunday at a press conference.
Failing vaccines
“This is simply because, in terms of its effectiveness, the vaccine is valid only for a period of five or six months. After about half a year, you have to get a third dose. Otherwise, the vaccine loses its power,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said just days earlier, on August 24, when he warned that his government was considering canceling citizens’ Green Passes if they had not received a third dose of vaccine.
“The Green Pass testifies that a person is safe in a certain way. So the moment we know that the vaccine loses its effectiveness after a certain period, there’s no justification for giving a Green Pass to someone who hasn’t gotten another dose,” Horowitz said.
Zarka attempted to put a more positive spin on the requirement of extra experimental injections for Israeli citizens who had been assured the vaccine was “95% effective” just months earlier, presenting the failure of the first two doses in terms of the positive benefits of a third shot and highlighting research showing that an extra dose boosts protection by 10 times 12 days following the injection. Israel on August 4 introduced the third “booster shot” of Pfizer’s vaccine, which has been administered to more than 2.1 million of the country’s 9.3 million residents as of August 30.
