Signs of inhibition in morbidity are evident.
When looking at the dashboard of the Ministry of Health, which is available to everyone online, it is important to note a few variables and not just the number verified.
The doubling rate of the number of patients, which stood at every ten days over several weeks, broke last week;
The coefficient of infection, which had already reached 1.4, fell below 1.2;
The rate of increase in the number of serious patients has also moderated (especially among those aged 60 and over).
Of course, this is still quite dismal data - but there is an encouraging change in trend here.
There is no doubt that vaccines, including the third vaccine, play a significant role in change.
It is enough to look at a graph that compares the rate of severe morbidity per 100,000 people among vaccinated and among unvaccinated, to see the tremendous effect that only deepens with the third vaccine.
After a long time we also see an increase in the number of first vaccine recipients, a few thousand per day - a figure that definitely shows a change in the atmosphere.
After months of almost indifference, there is finally a sense of urgency in the air.
Immunization is once again seen in the city squares, joining hands with local authorities and civil society.
Let us not take this for granted.
Despite the loud voices of opponents of vaccines, most Israeli society still sees vaccines as an act of solidarity.
But vaccines can not be everything.
It requires a combination of all the multi-system components we are already well acquainted with: masks, hygiene, green mark, avoidance of gatherings according to a purple mark and the integration of civil society and local authorities as having a very significant role in health, including maintaining community cohesion.
It is time to strengthen the health care system, which is stretched to the limit: from public health services, which do a sacred work focused primarily on disease prevention and promotion;
Through the HMO community system;
And to the array of hospitals.
We did not have to wait for a pandemic to clearly call for the strengthening of the health care system in all its components, but if we have come this far, we must continue to call for the strengthening of the health care system as well as other public systems such as welfare and education.
Now is the time.
The pandemic, which continues to serve as a mirror to our society, shows us what should be the priorities, and how much public systems are of immense importance in maintaining our social fabric.
If we are to succeed in doing so in the field of vaccines, we must change priorities and do so in the broader aspects of public health as well.
This is our opportunity, and this, in my opinion, is the true meaning of living with the corona - not out of passivity, but while actively pursuing the health of us all, out of a perception of "health in every policy" and integration between all the variables that affect health.
* The author is the head of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the head of the health policy program at the Taub Center.