Israeli vaccine chief: "We have made mistakes"

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

The Green Pass/vaccine passport concept was no longer relevant in the Omicron era and should be phased out (he expected 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”
Listen to the podcast version: https://shows.acast.com/lockdowntv-wi...

Accompanying article here: https://unherd.com/thepost/israeli-va...

// Timecodes //

00:00 - 01:39 - Introduction
01:39 - 04:03 - What has Israel learned from its approach to covid?
04:03 - 05:38 - Was Professor Cyrille Cohen surprised to learn that the vaccines are less effective at preventing transmission than hoped?
05:38 - 10:32 - Should vaccine passports be phased out in the Omicron era?
10:32 - 12:58 - Why was ‘herd immunity’ so controversial - and is it making a comeback?
12:58 - 14:41 - What does Cyrille Cohen think of the UK’s covid experience?
14:41 - 16:50 - Has the politicization of science been strange to the professor?
16:50 - 22:14 - What would Cyrille do differently if he was advising the Israeli government on a future pandemic?
22:14 - 25:45 - Is Omicron the end of the pandemic?
25:45 - 28:39 - Should we just leave anti-vaxxers alone?
28:39 - 29:50 - Are cancer vaccines just around the corner?
29:50 - 31:08 - Concluding thoughts

#Covid19 #Vaccines #Israel