How Vaccines Reduced Israel's R Number

Israel's swift vaccination campaign managed to break the country's third wave of Covid-19 and the end of the pandemic looks to be in sight for the country's nine million inhabitants. The vaccine's impact on the country's reproduction number has been central to disrupting chains of infection and preventing serious illness and death. That reproduction number, or "R number", is defined as the number of people that one infected person will pass a virus on to, on average.

This dipped below 1 for the first time during the third wave on January 20th and it has continued to tumble ever since, reaching 0.5 at the beginning of April, according to Our World in Data. While Israel has been heavily criticized for failing to vaccinate the Palestinians living under its military control, the situation looks positive for its citizens who are now enjoying something close to a pre-pandemic life where a green pass is already affording fully-vaccinated people access to amenities like hotels, gymns, concerts and swimming pools.