In the face of false news attacks about vaccines: The Ministry of Health is stepping up the fight • In an unprecedented appeal to hospitals, the ministry demands to protect patients from doctors who have not been vaccinated in Corona • The reason: "Complaints about two senior doctors disseminating misleading information"
The Corona Department at Shaare Zedek Hospital
Photo:
Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
For the first time since the Corona vaccination campaign began, the Ministry of Health states: There is a concern that doctors have some unvaccinated and may be infected, "the viral load and the risk of infection may be higher than in a vaccinated person."
Therefore, according to the Ministry of Health, the managements of the hospitals and the health funds must act so that the work of these doctors "will be done in a framework and by means that do not endanger the patients and the staff."
The demand to keep unvaccinated doctors away from patients and patients at risk, which is revealed here for the first time, is unprecedented - not only in the corona epidemic but in the history of the health system in Israel.
The demand was sent yesterday to the director general of the Clalit Health Fund, Prof. Ehud Davidson, and to the directors of the Niado Public Hospital in Netanya, Prof. Zvi Shimoni and Nadav Chen. An orthopedist from Laniado Hospital.According to the Ministry of Health, the two call for avoiding receiving vaccines against Corona and thus "misleading the public and may endanger him".
National Vaccine Operation, Archive. Those photographed have no connection to the content of the article // Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon, Newsenders
The Ministry of Health demanded that Clalit's CEO and managers of Niado "clarify that the doctors' activities have nothing to do with the fund or the hospital," since according to the complaint, in their publications about the vaccines, the two doctors use their degree, expertise and workplace. Dr. Eyal Hako and Dr. Iris Leitersdorf, heads of the Advisory Committee for the Examination of Public Misleading in the Advertising of Health Products, Medical Technologies and the Medical Professions. The two are members of the Central Committee of the Ministry of Health against physicians who disseminate information against vaccines and immunizations.
In a complaint to Prof. Davidson, CEO of Clalit, the heads of the Ministry of Health committee wrote yesterday that the publications against the corona vaccine on the social networks of Dr. Michal Haran, a senior physician at the Hematology Institute at Kaplan Hospital, include "unfounded statements that create a public intimidation effect." , And that "her publications have received many echoes in marginalized groups, some of them charlatans, who frequently express opposition to the vaccination program and resort to methods of intimidation and undermining security in the medical system."
"Baseless publications"
"Dr. Haran's publications are a potential risk to public health while creating an intimidation and distrust effect, especially since she does not restrict her remarks or at least recommends consulting with the attending physician," they wrote to Prof. Davidson at the Ministry of Health. "Many hear her words and trust her. In her presentation as a senior specialist doctor employed by the General Health Fund and a hospital in Israel.
"Dr. Haran uses her description, her expertise and her place of work at the hospital which is owned by the General Health Fund. She continues to call for avoiding vaccines, despite the damage and danger of coronary heart disease, and despite evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines in reducing serious morbidity."
In another letter, addressed directly to Dr. Haran, the committee wrote: "In your publications, statements are made without any professional basis, and you state emphatically that in relation to corona vaccines it is a 'technology that has not been tested in humans' and that it is a drug that has not passed the usual steps. '.
"These unsubstantiated assertions by a doctor who presents himself as a 'senior doctor' are enough to create an effect of intimidation among the public."
The heads of the committee at the Ministry of Health also wrote to the directors of Laniado Hospital yesterday about the orthopedic surgeon Dr. Avshalom Carmel, director of the hand and elbow surgery service at the hospital. "The reduction was based on, among other things, Dr. Carmel's publications on Twitter in which he wrote:" If you are young, you should wait with the vaccine, "and:" If I were young, I would rather get sick. "
He circulated the hospital director's appeal to staff to get vaccinated with the headline: "Here's coronofhism in deep seepage."
Fear of breaking the law
In the letter of complaint the committee wrote to Dr. Carmel, it demanded that it stop publishing, "which is not based on established data as is customary in the medical profession, in a way that would mislead the public and may endanger it," and remove all publications it raised. Violated the law governing the publications of doctors.
The doctors were reprimanded
Laniado Hospital responded:
"The hospital's position is that the vaccine is the game changer in the fight against the Corona virus. This position was distributed to all employees by the hospital's medical director, Prof. Zvi Shimoni, and the hospital's management encourages all staff and the population to accept. "The vaccine. Any other position, insofar as it changes, is contrary to our position. Upon receiving the information regarding the doctor in question, a conversation took place between him and the medical director and he was reprimanded for his statements."
Dr. Carmel said:
"I do not represent Laniado and I always wear a mask in front of the patients and do not endanger them.
A patient who has been vaccinated - his risk of meeting with me is minimal.
I see fit that before young people get an experimental vaccine, they should know about the dangers and risks of a vaccine that has received an emergency permit.
I make accessible to the public information that the Ministry of Health does not make clearly accessible.
I do not oppose vaccines and encourage people at risk to be vaccinated. "
Clalit Health Services and Hospital Kaplan said:
"The hospital is making great efforts to vaccinate medical teams and the general public, and is vaccination rates high among the teams. Position Hospital of the importance and safety of vaccinations published both among employees and among the general public, including the tools at our disposal. Led Mr. Haran was clarified by the hospital management not to use Kaplan's name when presenting her personal views, and that she should emphasize that they do not receive the hospital's support, and evidence - that she does.
We emphasize that Dr. Haran is not employed full-time, and as part of her limited activities at the hospital, there is strict adherence to all the guidelines of the Ministry of Health. "
Dr. Haran responded:
“I have not spoken out against the vaccines or against the corona vaccine, and this dichotomy between opponents and supporters is problematic in my eyes. It prevents real scientific discussion. As a physician, I update patients on drug risks and I am always careful when a new drug comes out. What I have done is that I have raised concerns about the possible risks of a corona vaccine made with innovative technology that has not been tested to such an extent to date and has not been fully approved to date. I have come to the unreasonable and illogical conclusion that it is important to raise any such concerns. "Dr. Harn added that she personally," should not be vaccinated for medical reasons. "
