Shunning the Unvaccinated

R' Kanievsky meeting yestrerday with Coronavirus czar Salman Zarka (TOI)

Just when we thought we might have this thing licked, COVID has come back with a vengeance. Even in Israel where 80% of the Israeli population is vaccinated against it! That kind of number normally suggests that herd immunity should have taken place. Meaning that the unvaccinated are protected since most of the people they come into contact with are vaccinated and therefore won’t get infected in the first place. And thereby not be able to transmit it.  

That has proven to be untrue in the case of COVID-19. Because it has mutated into one of the most contagious viruses on earth. So that the 20% that aren’t vaccinated don’t need much exposure to get sick. The data shows that while the vaccine protects you from getting seriously ill - it does not necessarily prevent you from getting the virus and spreading it. Which is why Israel has had a spike in COVID cases despite the high rate of vaccinations.  The unvaccinated are driving the spike. They are the ones getting really sick and being hospitalized  and in some case even dying! How bad is it? From YWN: 

Since the beginning of the fourth wave, 31 coronavirus patients have been attached to ECMO machines, five of whom died – all unvaccinated patients under the age of 60... 

“The main thing we’re seeing from this data is the fact that the patients who aren’t vaccinated are the worst cases,” said Dr. Yigal Kassif, who heads the Israeli ECMO Association.

“These patients in the 40 to 60 age group, who are treated with the ECMO machines – die, while older patients including some with underlying conditions who had been vaccinated – survive.”

“Anyone who has never seen a seriously ill virus patient on the machine can’t understand the horror. These are people who are tragically unable even to bid their families farewell in their final days.”

Dr. Arie Soroksky, director of the ICU at Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center, said: “All of the patients we placed on ECMOs haven’t been vaccinated.”

“The unvaccinated, especially young people, are especially vulnerable to serious illness. If a patient lacks oxygen, we give him oxygen. When that’s not enough, we put him on a ventilator. In extreme cases, even the ventilator can’t save the patient…in these cases, we hook them up to an ECMO. Their family members then often rush to get vaccinated,” he wryly concluded.

And yet there are still a lot of people that are on the fence about the COVID vaccines. Many of them Charedi. Well if you are Charedi, follow Daas Torah and believe that R’  Chaim Kanievsky is the individual best suited to express it, read this little piece of news from the Times of Israel: 

(R’ Chaim Kanievsky) has now unequivocally thrown his weight behind the government’s vaccination push, telling coronavirus czar Salman Zarka late Tuesday that he wants principals to suspend teachers who aren’t vaccinated.

Wow!  That is quite a statement. He is practically shunning those that refuse to get vaccinated! He gets it. He understands that they are not only endangering themselves but endangering others!

For all the ‘geniuses’ in the Charedi world that are still holding back - it appears that not only are you disputing health experts, you are disputing Daas Torah! 

The question is, will the Charedim that have been hesitant about getting the vaccine now listen to him? I keep hearing some of those Charedim say that they listen only to Daas Torah, and could not care less what health experts say. Well now is your chance to prove it and get vaccinated. If you don’t, then you don't really believe in Daas Torah after all, do you?!

I agree with the spirit of R' Kanievsky statement. Anyone that is not vaccinated and does not have a valid medical reason for that - should be be avoided like the plague. (No pun intended.) That seems to his message. And I could not agree more.