JERUSALEM – After spending much of the past year in lockdown, Tel Aviv makeup artist Artyom Kavnatsky was ready to get back to work.
But when he showed up for a recent photo shoot, his employer turned him away. The reason? He had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus. “He didn’t take me because I didn’t get vaccinated,” Kavnatsky said. “It’s discrimination, and it’s not all right." The breakneck pace of Israel’s vaccination drive has made it one of the few countries able to return to much of its pre-pandemic routine.
Bars and businesses, hotels and health clubs have all sprung back to life in Israel, where some 80% of the adult population is fully vaccinated and new infections and COVID-19 deaths have plummeted.