Israel Reportedly Considering Banning Unvaccinated from Leisure Activities 

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israel’s Health Ministry is reportedly considering a campaign to incentivize more Israelis to get vaccinated by prohibiting the unvaccinated from enjoying leisure activities like restaurants and sporting events.

“We will incentivize the vaccinated with the green passport,” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Thursday. “Go and get vaccinated, it will protect not only you and those around you, [but] it will also enable you to return more quickly to a normal life.”

The green passport would be administered to Israelis who have received both doses of the vaccine and would be valid for six months after it is issued, according to a Health Ministry proposal presented to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in Israel’s parliament.

Israel’s Channel 12 News reports that officials are also considering denying access to hotels, gyms, restaurants, cultural and sporting events for those who do not get vaccinated. Those who have received the vaccine and their green passport will be allowed to enter freely.

In an effort to avoid legal trouble for outright banning all unvaccinated Israelis from leisure activities, the government would allow entry to venues for those who present a negative COVID-19 test result from the past 48 hours. But the report said health officials want to make access to coronavirus tests more difficult to push Israelis to get the vaccine. These measures include charging for tests, limiting testing centers, and limiting the number of tests given.

The proposal is raising questions from legal and bioethics experts who warn there are risks to these measures.

Jerusalem-born international bioethics expert Vardit Ravitsky says the issue is complicated and leaders are walking a legal tightrope.

 "The ethical issues around the green passport focus on the tensions that have been accompanying us since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic - between equality and freedom on the one hand and the considerations of public health and efficacy on the other hand. Both have significant weight,” she told Globes.

She argues the green passport is “perhaps” justified for those who are at high risk of being infected and infecting “but to lose your job because of your inability or concerns about the vaccination is a tough blow and an issue that has substantial legal and ethical ramifications.”

Ravitsky believes Israel appears to be rushing its green passport policy and leaders must carefully weigh the legal and ethical consequences of this approach.

“Restrictions on public health belong to the medical world. I repeat, I am not claiming that a green passport is necessarily a bad idea. I am only saying that we must pay attention to the subtleties and ethical considerations and not implement them in a sweeping way,” she said.

Prof. Yuval Feldman, a professor at the Faculty of Law at Bar-Illan University and Senior Fellow of the Israel Democracy Institute, is an expert in law and behavioral economics. He studies how democracies can change the behavior of their citizens through incentives without violating their rights.

“Everyone recognizes it will be beneficial to everyone [for] as many people as possible [to get] vaccinated,” he told CBN News. “This needs to be balanced with, you know, people have autonomy over their bodies, and we don’t want to create a situation where everyone has to always disclose their medical status. There are concerns about a slippery slope. This is very complex.”

He said the government’s proposal of limiting access to leisure activities is “easier to justify” than more extreme examples like banning unvaccinated citizens from grocery stores.

“The constitutional right to go to a sport event is not as important as the constitutional right to buy food, and therefore, creating advantages for those who got immunized is easier – same thing maybe for shows and concerts,” said Feldman. “The government is focusing in the first stage on those types of events, which I think makes it simpler from a legal perspective.”

But he argues there is a better, less legally questionable way to get Israelis vaccinated than sanctioning those who don’t want to. That starts with giving the public more access to scientists and medical experts who can address their concerns or fears about the vaccine.  

“You get people to change their behaviors in a positive way without the need to risk their autonomy,” said Feldman.

He also recommends making the vaccine more available to citizens through mobile clinics. Another suggestion is to foster a sense of solidarity by offering stickers for those who have been vaccinated – like the stickers many receive after voting in an election.

The point is to get citizens to intrinsically want to get vaccinated on their own, not force them to do so by restricting freedoms, Feldman explained. 

“All of those ideas are definitely better,” he said. “You need to do the balancing very carefully and you need to understand what is it that you do [and] how you are sure you’re not creating greater harm.”

Although Israel is a world leader in its vaccination campaign, health leaders have reported a significant drop in people seeking to get vaccinated. After making the vaccine available to everyone over the age of 16, only 65,000 Israelis a day have been vaccinated. Previously, that number hovered around 200,000 people every day.

Feldman said the vaccine campaign is highly politicized and many Israelis don’t trust their government. Many leaders are vying for political points and votes ahead of Israel's fourth national election in only two years. 

Feldman believes politicians can rebuild their trust with citizens by allowing scientists to take the front seat and taking politics out of the spotlight. 

“I think scientists are beyond the politics and people, generally speaking, trust their medical doctors,” he said. “People can understand scientists who don’t have any political aspirations or don’t have the monetary incentives and are just concerned about public health…this is the much better way than someone who is more likely to get political gain.”

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