A FEW weeks ago I was struck by a photo posted on social media by one of my colleagues who works at a university in Israel.

She in a lecture hall, about to start teaching a large group of students. Everyone was wearing face coverings, but the students were close to one another – just one seat apart. We arranged a call and I was so delighted to hear from her how well the return to face to face teaching was being managed in Israel, and what has made it possible.

While all school pupils have returned to the classroom now in Scotland, a full restart of further and higher education teaching is not yet on the horizon. Although face to face delivery for some practical courses has continued throughout, the pandemic has meant a full year of online classes, tutorials and supervision for tens of thousands of students in Scotland.

What has made the difference in Israel? The short answer is vaccines. The longer answer is more complex.

According to Our World in Data, which is a robust source of international comparisons, Covid-19 cases in Israel are now down by over 97% in all age groups compared to the height of their second wave, experienced at the same time as Scotland’s in January of this year. Almost 60% of their population is fully vaccinated (both doses) compared with 15% in the UK. When we look at first doses, which have been a priority to deliver here, the difference is less with Israel at 62% and the UK at 49%. Only one other country, the United Arab Emirates, is ahead of the UK but behind Israel in 1st doses at 51%.

Israel’s rapid roll-out has allowed an almost complete reopening of society within this small country of 9.3 million people. As in Scotland, Israel prioritised certain groups first including people aged 60 and older, care home residents, people with underlying health conditions and health care staff. Their vaccine roll-out so far has depended on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine where the Israeli government had contracts in place and rollout started quickly after national regulatory approval in December 2020.

Israel mobilised their pandemic preparedness mechanisms and had an advantage in terms of their funded health care coverage for many groups but also an impressive national registry and IT system for vaccine roll out, as others have noted. They relied on community nurses for vaccination and had invested in the nursing workforce for that purpose, rather than having to rely on diverting health professionals from other roles to deliver vaccines. Once priority groups had received a first dose (and appointments were in place for a second dose three to four weeks later) the programme opened up to all those eligible over the age of 16.

There are well documented inequalities in vaccination. While access to vaccines in much of the Jewish population in Israel has been excellent, this has not been the case for all other groups. Universities set up vaccine sites for international students and charities provided drop in vaccination centres for migrant workers not registered with a health care provider. Uptake has been lower in the Arab population. Key religious figures have played their part in promoting vaccines, and outreach to local Arab communities including the Bedouin in the north of the country (where mobile vaccination sites have been set up) has been established, although inequalities remain. This is important and fraught with difficulties that are historical and systemic and go well beyond public heath to wider geo-political issues.

Returning to the UK, it is worth noting that this week Michael Gove, Minister for the Cabinet Office, and Jonathan Van Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, visited Israel to learn from their experience. In particular, they will have been focusing on Israel’s ‘green pass’ and how it works. This is digital and (if needed) paper certification of vaccine status or also recent infection – a so-called ‘vaccine passport’ system.

At the moment Israel has adopted this for use within the country, rather than for international travel. People who have received both doses of the vaccine can, about a week later, get a green pass. It permits access to hospitality, gyms, cinemas and other venues and is also needed for university students accessing to face to face teaching. Planning for any similar scheme here looks fraught with difficulty with a variety of issues to consider. The Scottish Government have been clear that there are no immediate plans to implement a similar scheme, although as always we need to watch and wait to see if such a strategy might have its place.

Israel is a success story thus far in the pandemic. I hope their success is maintained, that the vaccine roll out continues to go well, and that the findings of their many studies about its success in preventing Covid-19 disease and death continue. Hopefully we can follow them.

But I had another very different meeting this week also, with colleagues in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The situation there is completely different. Many people are being infected and it’s not just older adults but also younger people and children who are affected. My colleagues have family members who are in hospital and may not survive. This pandemic still rages globally, and while we have countries like Israel that offer hope, we must remember that this is not over. As Scotland opens up, let’s keep our eyes on the rest of the world.