The Israeli Health Ministry is likely to recommend later this week that the government abolish the Green Pass program, which restricts entry into many venues to people who are vaccinated, recovered from the coronavirus, or recently tested negative, as news site Haaretz reports.
Many experts have argued for weeks that the Green Pass is pointless given the current high infection rate. Some have even warned that it creates a false sense of security that causes people to neglect other precautions.
Despite this, the cabinet decided on Sunday to leave the pass in force at most venues for another week, at schools until February 27 and healthcare facilities until March 1.
But ministry sources said the extension was mainly intended to give the ministry time to finalize its own recommendation, which is likely to be to abolish the pass or at least greatly reduce the number of places where it is required. The ministry will make its proposal known at this week’s coronavirus cabinet meeting.
“We need another week, both to analyze the data and to think about what changes we want to make,” one source said, adding that the ministry is rethinking not just the Green Pass but other restrictions on gatherings. “But I believe that we’ll go in the direction of cancelation.
“I’m not convinced the Green Pass does more harm than good from the standpoint of infection,” he explained. “But it’s quite possible that it provides too small a benefit to justify the whole package – the effort and logistics it requires.”
source haaretz.com
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