On August 18th, the Facebook Page “Beka Vardosanidze’s Blog” shared a video where Beka Vardosanidze talks about the ineffectiveness of the new COVID-19 vaccines. At the beginning of the video, Vardosanidze listens to the live conference of the NCDC director Amiran Gamkrelidze and claims that since the overall number of deaths in Israel is large, the vaccine is ineffective. During the video, Vardosanidze repeats several times that since vaccinated and unvaccinated people are equally contagious, there is no point in taking the vaccine.
The way Vardosanidze uses the number of deaths in Israel is manipulative. In reality, before the introduction of the vaccine, significantly more people were dying in Israel. The number of medical complications has also decreased after people received the vaccine shots. In addition, while it is true that a vaccinated person can also be infected and carry the virus, still the chance of this is significantly less compared to the unvaccinated ones. Accordingly, the claims of Vardosanidze about Israel demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the vaccines is false.
- What is the accurate picture of coronavirus-related deaths in Israel?
In order to prove the effectiveness of the vaccines, Gamkrelidze brings the example of Israel and stresses that the vaccines have significantly lowered the cases of death and hospitalisation. As a response, Beka Vardosanidze claims that the number of COVID-19-related deaths is still very high in Israel and uses the Worldometers data to prove it. Despite the fact that as of August 18th, 6723 people have lost their lives to the virus in Israel, one must consider that this number also includes the period before the mass vaccination was implemented. The number of deaths has fallen drastically after the vaccines were allocated, meaning that most of the victims never even got the chance to take the vaccine in the first place.
For instance, as of January 26th, the 7-day-average of covid-related deaths in Israel was 62, while as of August 19th, only 21.
It is also important to mention that the number of people transported to ICU facilities has also fallen significantly after introducing the vaccines. As of today, out of 64 532 active coronavirus cases, only 149 are receiving treatment in the ICU.
As a comparison, on January 8th, out of 65 008 active cases, 292 people (Twice as much) were placed in the ICU.
More importantly, the number of deaths and hospitalisations in all age groups in unvaccinated people is significantly higher than that of the vaccinated ones.
Who Fabricated the Information in the Name of AnsaMed about the Deaths in Israel?
- Can vaccinated and unvaccinated people equally transmit the virus? What is the point of taking the vaccine?
Beka Vardosanidze repeats several times throughout the entire video that since vaccinated and unvaccinated people equally transmit the virus, there is no point in taking the vaccine. In reality, the claim is manipulative since the research carried out by the CDC and the UK demonstrated that the vaccinated and unvaccinated people might equally transmit the virus, but the chance of getting it in the first place is significantly lower with the fully-vaccinated ones. To clarify the following, “Myth Detector” has contacted Dr. Archil Marshania, who confirmed that a fully-vaccinated person could also transmit the virus, nonetheless, at a significantly lower degree, as the duration of the virus is shorter. Furthermore, the Telegraph article used by Vardosanidze does not claim that vaccinated and unvaccinated people equally transmit the virus; instead, the title says that both of the categories can spread the virus.
While speaking about the importance of vaccines, Marshania underscored one more aspect. Since vaccination reduces the chance of hospitalisation, a growing number of vaccinated people will release the pressure from the health sector and create more accessible places for COVID-19 and other patients.
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