Reflection on Successes and Failures of the Early Response to the Pandemic in Israel

Date:

10 July 2025, Thursday

Time:

3.00 pm-4.00pm Singapore [GMT +8]

Location:

Seminar Room 2, Level 8
Tahir Foundation Building (MD1)
National University of Singapore
12 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117549

Abstract:

When COVID-19 reached Israel in early 2020, the speed and intensity of control measures set the country as one of the world’s leading examples, especially with regards to the procurement and implementation of a COVID-19 vaccine programme. Israel procured doses to cover its entire population as soon as vaccines were available and were among the first to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine, rapidly achieving high coverage. They were also among the first to use of boosters and extending vaccination to children. Some of these decisions were controversial at the time. Over time however, the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Israel became undistinguishable from other countries. We will explore the successes and failures of COVID-19 policies in Israel and how it went from a positive outlier to average. We will reflect on how these decisions differed from pandemic management in Singapore, drawing implications for pandemic policy decision making.

Speaker:

Prof Michael Edelstein
Professor, Public Health and Epidemiology
Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Michael Edelstein is a professor of public health and epidemiology at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and a Public health doctor specialised in infectious disease and vaccine epidemiology. His expertise and interests include vaccine epidemiology and policy, health inequalities and the role of digital tools to improve public health. He runs a research programme that aims to understand and address, both quantitatively and qualitatively, how diseases spread and can be prevented among different population groups, in Israel and beyond. Prof Edelstein previously served as a medical epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency’s immunization division and a research Fellow at Chatham House’s Center on Global Health Security. He has served as a technical expert on immunization data and equity for the World Health Organization and has responded to major public health emergencies in Africa, South East Asia and Europe. He has published over 100 publications on various aspects of infectious disease control.