Professor Ran Balicer, Chairman of the National COVID-19 National Experts Advisory Team, on Wednesday spoke with 103 FM Radio about Israel's management of the coronavirus pandemic, and whether Israel is taking appropriate precautions.
When asked about how Israel has reopened Ben Gurion International Airport, Prof. Balicer said, "There is no doubt that the issue of variants will continue to accompany us constantly in the coming months. As of this moment there is no variant, that we know of, which we have reason to assume is resistant to the vaccine against it - including the Indian [variant]."
"We are always required to manage the risks, not to completely and fully prevent them, because the cost of that sometimes is not appropriate. The ability to fully prevent the entry of variants - there are those who believe it does not exist."
He added that "it is very upsetting" that some of the recommendations made by the Health Ministry did not happen.
"There is not full and proper supervision that quarantine is kept as it should be," he noted.
"That is a small price to pay for a much better level of security, so that we will not lose the achievements we have made until now."
Explaining that the amount of supervision on Israel's borders is inversely proportional to the amount of restrictions which can be loosened within Israel, Prof. Balicer emphasized: "We need a logical balance between the risks and benefits."
On the issue of vaccinating children, he said: "We are waiting for the results of the scientific experiments. The data is encouraging and shows that both the vaccines which we received create good and significant immunity, even after six months."
He added: "It is worth following up once every few months and continuously. We will extend the Green Badge again and again, until there is data from Israel or the world which shows that this is not the correct thing to do. Most of the estimates say that we will need a 'booster' at some point, the question is when. We don't need to do it before we begin to see a drop [in immunity]."