Great article and I must add we really miss you on "that other" site. The one thing that really strikes me (you touch on this without really emphasizing it) is how far NONVAXXED patient and death numbers have fallen in Israel. Thus while a high at risk cohort may give lie to the contention that the Pfizer vaccine--the one Israel uses--is failing, I do think the absolute drop in all serious covid cases is a useful tool in a mapping our final exit from this shitshow whether due to herd immunity, better clinical treatment or the presence of other factors. Also, absolute numbers of 'bad cases' dropping seems to augur against leaning so hard on vaccination whatever their real rate of protection. BTW we see the same thing in the US--though case numbers are going up, the rate of deaths is basically flat even after allowing for a two week lag.
Great article and I must add we really miss you on "that other" site. The one thing that really strikes me (you touch on this without really emphasizing it) is how far NONVAXXED patient and death numbers have fallen in Israel. Thus while a high at risk cohort may give lie to the contention that the Pfizer vaccine--the one Israel uses--is failing, I do think the absolute drop in all serious covid cases is a useful tool in a mapping our final exit from this shitshow whether due to herd immunity, better clinical treatment or the presence of other factors. Also, absolute numbers of 'bad cases' dropping seems to augur against leaning so hard on vaccination whatever their real rate of protection. BTW we see the same thing in the US--though case numbers are going up, the rate of deaths is basically flat even after allowing for a two week lag.