Zero Young Healthy Individuals Died of COVID-19, Israeli Data Show
Zero healthy individuals under the age of 50 have died of COVID-19 in Israel, according to newly released data.
“Zero deceased of 18–49 years of age with no underlying morbidities,” the Israel Ministry of Health (MOH) said in response to a formal request from an attorney.
Officials noted that the statement only applies to COVID-19 deaths where the MOH conducted an epidemiological investigation and had received information about the underlying diseases.
“Zero is a very, very clear number, and cannot be subject to interpretation,” Yoav Yehezkelli, a specialist in internal medicine and medical management, and former lecturer in the Department of Emergency and Disaster Management at Tel Aviv University in Israel, told The Epoch Times.
“Why were all the extreme measures of school closures, vaccination of children, and lockdowns needed?” he added.
The MOH did respond to a request for comment.
Freedom of Information Request
The information was sparked by a freedom of information request filed by attorney Ori Xabi, who has been filing several such requests as he seeks to obtain information from the MOH regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 policies.
Xabi asked to know the average age of people who died of COVID-19, segmented by vaccination status at the time of death; how many COVID-19 patients with no underlying morbidities under the age of 50 died; and the annual number of cardiac arrest cases between 2018 to 2022.
According to the MOH response, the average age of vaccinated COVID-19 patients who died was 80.2 years. The average for the unvaccinated was 77.4 years.
The MOH emphasized that the data they have about the underlying diseases of patients is partial since it relies on information provided by the patients or their relatives, if they chose to do so. And then, only in cases in which the MOH conducted an epidemiological investigation.
Therefore “the available information does not necessarily reflect the health status of the patient” the MOH wrote adding that they do not have access to the patients’ medical records.
It is not clear why the MOH responded to Xabi’s request using only cases where the MOH had conducted an epidemiological investigation, and which was limited to deceased patients where the families had cooperated, since in 2020 the MOH told the Israeli Knesset—the Israeli parliament—that they use an intelligence system that provides the MOH with extensive information about deceased patients that included “underlying diseases.”
A document (pdf) from the Knesset Research and Information Center, dated June 7, 2020, stated that the MOH provided data to the Special Committee for the New COVID Virus about COVID-19 deaths—298 by that day at 4:30 p.m.—at the request of Yifat Shasha-Biton, a member of the Knesset, and the chair of that committee.
The ministry’s intelligence system has data on gender, age, district of residence, and the underlying diseases of the deceased, according to the document. The system showed that about 94 percent of the deceased were 60 years or older and that there were no deceased with zero underlying diseases.
In addition, on May 4, 2020, the Medical Directorate of the MOH in a letter (pdf) issued instructions to the heads of the hospitals and the medical departments of the Health Maintenance Organizations—national health care organizations—on how to fill out COVID-19 death notices, directing them to include underlying diseases.
In a December 22, 2020 letter (pdf) the Medical Directorate to the managers of the hospitals stated that for every COVID-19 patient who died during the acute phase or due to complications of the illness later, or people who were positive for COVID-19 who died, a death notice and a summary of the case “must be sent to the COVID war room of the MOH.”
They said the purpose was “to improve surveillance.”
“It’s a bit naive” for the MOH to say they do not have the full data and access to the death certificates said Yehezkelli, who was also a founder of a team that advises the MOH’s director general.
Yet this response from the MOH is meaningful, said Yehezkelli as “it finally reveals the truth.”
‘False Presentation’
Studies and other data, including a study led by Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis, show that COVID-19 mortality, even with the original variant, was largely age-dependent.
“It was definitely a disease that actually only endangered the elderly,” Yehezkelli said.
Over the age of 60, mortality doubled every 5 years while under that age mortality was negligible, and “now we really see that it was zero under the age of 50, at least.”
The MOH’s response showed that the average age of the COVID-19 deceased is about 80 years of age, which also indicates that “this is a disease of the elderly, almost exclusively,” said Yehezkelli.
“That only means that what we were told for 3 years was not true,” he said.
There may not have been many young people who got seriously ill, yet the MOH had emphasized cases of pregnant women hospitalized in critical condition and young healthy people who died because of COVID-19. It was not the true situation, he said.
“They created a false presentation of a very severe epidemic that affects the entire population and therefore the entire population should also be vaccinated, regardless of age,” said Yehezkelli.
If we are talking about people under the age of 50 that means that no pregnant women actually died of COVID-19, he said.
The justification given for vaccinating pregnant women, young people, and children was that they too are affected by COVID-19.
It was known back then that this was not the case “and we now see it clearly,” Yehezkelli said, asserting that the MOH has “lost the public’s trust” by making a “false presentation” of the dangers of COVID-19.
Cardiac Arrest Data
In response to Xabi’s recent FOI, the MOH provided the number of cardiac arrest cases from 2018 to 2020. They added, “The information for the years 2021–2022 does not exist in the office.”
The MOH explained that “The registration of the causes of death of deceased persons is carried out, in accordance with the notification of death,” by the Central Bureau of Statistics, adding “the data for the years 2021–2022 have not yet been transferred to the Ministry of Health.”
A study published in April 2022 that analyzed the dataset of the Israel National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) found a 25 percent increase in EMS calls due to cardiac arrests among 16- to 39-year-olds between January–May 2021.
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout began in December 2020.
Retsef Levi, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, was one of the researchers of the study.
The MOH objected to the findings of the study in a post on Twitter where they said that “there is no connection between the EMS calls that were analyzed in the study and the COVID vaccines.”
In a MOH webinar on Oct. 8, 2021, about the effectiveness and the safety of the COVID vaccines, Dr. Sharon Elroy-Pries, the head of Public Health Services at the Israel MOH said regarding Levi’s study: “This is one of the biggest fake news I have seen.”
“The National Center for Disease Control did a very comprehensive analysis—including of the data of that study, [which were] EMS calls,” she said adding that “there was nothing. No more [cases of] heart attacks. No more calls to the ER.”
She continued by saying that “in the mortality data from the beginning of 2021, you don’t see an increase in mortality except for COVID mortality. That is, if we look at excess mortality in the State of Israel we see it precisely at the peaks that were peaks of [COVID] morbidity in the State of Israel.”
“When you remove the … morbidity from COVID at all ages, one sees either the same mortality rate as in previous years, or less,” she said, adding “there is no increase in heart attacks here.”
In a February 2023 meeting of the Health Committee of the Knesset for extending the COVID special powers law, Elroy-Pries reiterated that the MOH does have access to COVID mortality data.
“COVID has killed over 12,000 people in the State of Israel,” she said at the meeting, explaining further that this figure is known since “from the beginning of the epidemic, the Medical Directorate received people’s death certificates.”
When asked about whether there is an increase in cardiac arrest cases in Israel among young people, Elroy-Pries said, “We do not see an increase in the death of young people,” adding “We’re checking it. We’re looking for it.”
Levi said to The Epoch Times that the MOH attacked him personally and the EMS, and asked “If they don’t have data for 2021 and 2022 [according to the FOI], then how can they know that they don’t have an increase [in cardiac arrests]?”
When the MOH says things that are contrary to science, said Levi, or are “contrary to the facts on a regular basis, you must ask yourself the question: are they doing it because they didn’t bother to read the science, or are they doing it even though they … read the science.”
“Both scenarios are very serious,” he added.
Vaccines Saved ‘Millions Around the World’: MOH
The MOH did not reply to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
Yet about 2 hours after sending the request on May 25, the agency posted on its Twitter account a statement regarding Xabi’s FOI.
“Following the manipulation that has been taking place in recent days regarding one of the Ministry of Health’s [reply to] Freedom of Information requests, we will clarify that the answers to the requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Law are, naturally, answered directly to the specific question that was asked.
“In this case, the ministry was asked about mortality data and underlying diseases. The Ministry of Health ‘does not have’ access to the medical file [of patients], therefore information is only based on cases where an epidemiological investigation was carried out and the person or his family answered the question [regarding underlying morbidities]. Therefore, this is very limited information. This was of course clearly written in the answer [to the FOI].
“We will clarify: So far, 356 young people (18–49 years of age) have died of COVID.
“Of these, only about half have documentation of an epidemiological investigation (184 deceased).
“And only 7.5% (27 deceased) included an answer to the question regarding underlying diseases. The answer was provided based on this information.
“The Ministry of Health is committed to maintaining the health of all citizens and making the information available in the Ministry transparently. This is how we acted [so far] and will continue to act.
“We must not forget that the COVID epidemic has so far killed more than 12,500 people in Israel, caused severe and critical morbidity, and post-COVID symptoms that accompany some of those recovering to this day.
“The vaccination campaign began in the midst of a third lockdown that resulted from an increase in morbidity and mortality and the opening of the economy was made possible thanks to the activation of the green passport, which its purpose was to reduce the risk of infection in mass events.
“The vaccines have saved thousands of people in the state of Israel and millions around the world—the attempt to rewrite history is dangerous.”
Following an administrative appeal filed by Xabi and colleagues, the MOH committed to publishing all-cause mortality segmented by vaccination status and age by the end of this month.
This appeal is an ongoing case that followed a FOI request submitted to the MOH on Oct. 10, 2021, which was not answered within the time frame according to Israeli law, and the data provided by the agency during a number of hearings since has been incomplete.
Nol Individu Muda Sehat Meninggal karena COVID-19, Data Israel Menunjukkan
Lia Onely
Nol individu sehat di bawah usia 50 tahun telah meninggal karena COVID-19 di Israel, menurut data yang baru dirilis.
"Nol meninggal 18-49 tahun tanpa morbiditas yang mendasarinya," kata Kementerian Kesehatan Israel (Kemenkes) sebagai tanggapan atas permintaan resmi dari seorang pengacara.
Pejabat mencatat bahwa pernyataan itu hanya berlaku untuk kematian COVID-19 di mana Kementerian Kesehatan melakukan penyelidikan epidemiologi dan telah menerima informasi tentang penyakit yang mendasarinya.
"Nol adalah angka yang sangat, sangat jelas, dan tidak dapat tunduk pada interpretasi," Yoav Yehezkelli, seorang spesialis dalam penyakit dalam dan manajemen medis, dan mantan dosen di Departemen Manajemen Darurat dan Bencana di Universitas Tel Aviv di Israel, mengatakan kepada The Epoch Times.
"Mengapa semua tindakan ekstrim penutupan sekolah, vaksinasi anak-anak, dan penguncian diperlukan?" Dia menambahkan.
Kementerian Kesehatan memang menanggapi permintaan komentar.
Permintaan Kebebasan Informasi
Informasi tersebut dipicu oleh permintaan kebebasan informasi yang diajukan oleh pengacara Ori Xabi, yang telah mengajukan beberapa permintaan seperti itu saat dia berusaha mendapatkan informasi dari Kementerian Kesehatan mengenai pandemi COVID-19 dan kebijakan COVID-19.
Xabi meminta untuk mengetahui usia rata-rata orang yang meninggal karena COVID-19, tersegmentasi berdasarkan status vaksinasi pada saat kematian; berapa banyak pasien COVID-19 tanpa morbiditas yang mendasari di bawah usia 50 tahun meninggal; dan jumlah tahunan kasus henti jantung antara 2018 hingga 2022.
Menurut tanggapan Kementerian Kesehatan, usia rata-rata pasien COVID-19 yang divaksinasi yang meninggal adalah 80,2 tahun. Rata-rata untuk yang tidak divaksinasi adalah 77,4 tahun.
Kementerian Kesehatan menekankan bahwa data yang mereka miliki tentang penyakit yang mendasari pasien bersifat parsial karena bergantung pada informasi yang diberikan oleh pasien atau kerabat mereka, jika mereka memilih untuk melakukannya. Dan kemudian, hanya dalam kasus di mana Kementerian Kesehatan melakukan penyelidikan epidemiologi.
Oleh karena itu "informasi yang tersedia tidak selalu mencerminkan status kesehatan pasien" tulis Kementerian Kesehatan menambahkan bahwa mereka tidak memiliki akses ke catatan medis pasien.
Tidak jelas mengapa Kementerian Kesehatan menanggapi permintaan Xabi hanya dengan menggunakan kasus-kasus di mana Kementerian Kesehatan telah melakukan penyelidikan epidemiologi, dan yang terbatas pada pasien yang telah meninggal di mana keluarga telah bekerja sama, karena pada tahun 2020 Kementerian Kesehatan mengatakan kepada Knesset Israel—parlemen Israel—bahwa mereka menggunakan sistem intelijen yang menyediakan Kementerian Kesehatan dengan informasi ekstensif tentang pasien yang meninggal yang mencakup "penyakit
Sebuah dokumen (pdf) dari Pusat Penelitian dan Informasi Knesset, tertanggal 7 Juni 2020, menyatakan bahwa Kementerian Kesehatan menyediakan data kepada Komite Khusus untuk Virus COVID Baru tentang kematian COVID-19—298 pada hari itu pukul 4:30 sore—atas permintaan Yifat Shasha-Biton, anggota Knesset, dan ketua komite itu.
Sistem intelijen kementerian memiliki data tentang jenis kelamin, usia, distrik tempat tinggal, dan penyakit yang mendasari almarhum, menurut dokumen tersebut. Sistem menunjukkan bahwa sekitar 94 persen almarhum berusia 60 tahun atau lebih dan tidak ada almarhum dengan nol penyakit yang mendasarinya.
Selain itu, pada 4 Mei 2020, Direktorat Medis Kementerian Kesehatan dalam sebuah surat (pdf) mengeluarkan instruksi kepada kepala rumah sakit dan departemen medis Organisasi Pemeliharaan Kesehatan—organisasi perawatan kesehatan nasional—tentang cara mengisi pemberitahuan kematian COVID-19, mengarahkan mereka untuk memasukkan penyakit yang mendasarinya.
Dalam surat 22 Desember 2020 (pdf) Direktorat Medis kepada manajer rumah sakit menyatakan bahwa untuk setiap pasien COVID-19 yang meninggal selama fase akut atau karena komplikasi penyakit di kemudian hari, atau orang-orang yang positif COVID-19 yang meninggal, pemberitahuan kematian dan ringkasan kasus "harus dikirim ke ruang perang COVID Kementerian Kesehatan."
Mereka mengatakan tujuannya adalah "untuk meningkatkan pengawasan."
"Agak naif" bagi Kementerian Kesehatan untuk mengatakan bahwa mereka tidak memiliki data lengkap dan akses ke sertifikat kematian, kata Yehezkelli, yang juga pendiri tim yang menasihati direktur jenderal Kementerian Kesehatan.
Namun tanggapan dari Kementerian Kesehatan ini bermakna, kata Yehezkelli sebagai "akhirnya mengungkapkan kebenaran."
Seorang pekerja kesehatan memberikan dosis vaksin COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech kepada seorang wanita hamil di Clalit Health Services, di Tel Aviv, Israel, pada 23 Januari 2021. (Jack Guez/AFP melalui Getty Images)
'Presentasi Palsu'
Studi dan data lainnya, termasuk studi yang dipimpin oleh ahli epidemiologi Stanford John Ioannidis, menunjukkan bahwa kematian COVID-19, bahkan dengan varian aslinya, sebagian besar bergantung pada usia.
"Itu jelas merupakan penyakit yang sebenarnya hanya membahayakan orang tua," kata Yehezkelli.
Di atas usia 60 tahun, kematian berlipat ganda setiap 5 tahun sementara di bawah usia itu kematian dapat diabaikan, dan "sekarang kita benar-benar melihat bahwa itu nol di bawah usia 50, setidaknya."
Tanggapan Kementerian Kesehatan menunjukkan bahwa usia rata-rata almarhum COVID-19 adalah sekitar 80 tahun, yang juga menunjukkan bahwa "ini adalah penyakit lansia, hampir secara eksklusif," kata Yehezkelli.
"Itu hanya berarti bahwa apa yang diberitahukan kepada kami selama 3 tahun tidak benar," katanya.
Mungkin tidak banyak anak muda yang sakit parah, namun Kementerian Kesehatan telah menekankan kasus wanita hamil yang dirawat di rumah sakit dalam kondisi kritis dan orang muda sehat yang meninggal karena COVID-19. Itu bukan situasi yang sebenarnya, katanya.
"Mereka membuat presentasi palsu dari epidemi yang sangat parah yang mempengaruhi seluruh populasi dan oleh karena itu seluruh populasi juga harus divaksinasi, tanpa memandang usia," kata Yehezkelli.
Jika kita berbicara tentang orang-orang di bawah usia 50 tahun itu berarti tidak ada wanita hamil yang benar-benar meninggal karena COVID-19, katanya.
Pembenaran yang diberikan untuk memvaksinasi wanita hamil, orang muda, dan anak-anak adalah bahwa mereka juga terkena dampak COVID-19.
Diketahui saat itu bahwa ini bukan masalahnya "dan sekarang kita melihatnya dengan jelas," kata Yehezkelli, menegaskan bahwa Kementerian Kesehatan telah "kehilangan kepercayaan publik" dengan membuat "presentasi palsu" tentang bahaya COVID-19.
Data Serangan Jantung
Menanggapi FOI Xabi baru-baru ini, Kementerian Kesehatan menyediakan jumlah kasus serangan jantung dari 2018 hingga 2020. Mereka menambahkan, "Informasi untuk tahun 2021-2022 tidak ada di kantor."
Kementerian Kesehatan menjelaskan bahwa "Pendaftaran penyebab kematian orang yang meninggal dilakukan, sesuai dengan pemberitahuan kematian," oleh Biro Pusat Statistik, menambahkan "data untuk tahun 2021-2022 belum ditransfer ke Kementerian Kesehatan."
Sebuah studi yang diterbitkan pada April 2022 yang menganalisis kumpulan data Layanan Medis Darurat Nasional Israel (EMS) menemukan peningkatan 25 persen dalam panggilan EMS karena serangan jantung di antara anak berusia 16 hingga 39 tahun antara Januari-Mei 2021.
Peluncuran vaksin COVID-19 dimulai pada Desember 2020.
Retsef Levi, seorang profesor di Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, adalah salah satu peneliti penelitian ini.
Kementerian Kesehatan keberatan dengan temuan penelitian dalam sebuah postingan di Twitter di mana mereka mengatakan bahwa "tidak ada hubungan antara panggilan EMS yang dianalisis dalam penelitian dan vaksin COVID."
Dalam webinar Kementerian Kesehatan pada 8 Oktober 2021, tentang efektivitas dan keamanan vaksin COVID, Dr. Sharon Elroy-Pries, kepala Layanan Kesehatan Masyarakat di Kementerian Kesehatan Israel mengatakan mengenai studi Levi: "Ini adalah salah satu berita palsu terbesar yang pernah saya lihat."
"Pusat Nasional untuk Pengendalian Penyakit melakukan analisis yang sangat komprehensif—termasuk data penelitian itu, [yang merupakan] panggilan EMS," katanya menambahkan bahwa "tidak ada apa-apa. Tidak ada lagi [kasus] serangan jantung. Tidak ada lagi panggilan ke UGD.”
Dia melanjutkan dengan mengatakan bahwa "dalam data kematian dari awal 2021, Anda tidak melihat peningkatan kematian kecuali untuk kematian COVID. Artinya, jika kita melihat kelebihan angka kematian di Negara Israel, kita melihatnya tepat di puncak yang merupakan puncak morbiditas [COVID] di Negara Israel."
"Ketika Anda menghilangkan ... morbiditas dari COVID di segala usia, seseorang melihat tingkat kematian yang sama seperti tahun-tahun sebelumnya, atau kurang," katanya, menambahkan "tidak ada peningkatan serangan jantung di sini."
Sharon Alroy-Preis, kepala Layanan Kesehatan Masyarakat di Kementerian Kesehatan Israel pada pertemuan Komite Kesehatan untuk membahas kekuatan khusus untuk menangani COVID-19 di Yerusalem pada 6 Februari 2023. (Dani Shem Tov / Knesset)
Dalam pertemuan Komite Kesehatan Knesset Februari 2023 untuk memperpanjang undang-undang kekuatan khusus COVID, Elroy-Pries menegaskan kembali bahwa Kementerian Kesehatan memang memiliki akses ke data kematian COVID.
"COVID telah membunuh lebih dari 12.000 orang di Negara Israel," katanya pada pertemuan itu, menjelaskan lebih lanjut bahwa angka ini diketahui sejak "sejak awal epidemi, Direktorat Medis menerima sertifikat kematian orang."
Ketika ditanya tentang apakah ada peningkatan kasus serangan jantung di Israel di antara orang-orang muda, Elroy-Pries berkata, "Kami tidak melihat peningkatan kematian orang-orang muda," menambahkan "Kami sedang memeriksanya. Kami sedang mencarinya.”
Levi mengatakan kepada The Epoch Times bahwa Kementerian Kesehatan menyerangnya secara pribadi dan EMS, dan bertanya "Jika mereka tidak memiliki data untuk 2021 dan 2022 [menurut FOI], lalu bagaimana mereka bisa tahu bahwa mereka tidak mengalami peningkatan [dalam serangan jantung]?"
Ketika Kementerian Kesehatan mengatakan hal-hal yang bertentangan dengan sains, kata Levi, atau "bertentangan dengan fakta secara teratur, Anda harus bertanya pada diri sendiri pertanyaan: apakah mereka melakukannya karena mereka tidak repot-repot membaca sains, atau apakah mereka melakukannya meskipun mereka ... membaca sains."
"Kedua skenario sangat serius," tambahnya.
Vaksin Menyelamatkan 'Jutaan Orang di Seluruh Dunia': Kementerian Kesehatan
Kementerian Kesehatan tidak membalas permintaan komentar dari The Epoch Times.
Namun sekitar 2 jam setelah mengirim permintaan pada 25 Mei, agensi memposting pernyataan di akun Twitter-nya mengenai FOI Xabi.
"Mengikuti manipulasi yang telah terjadi dalam beberapa hari terakhir mengenai salah satu [balasan] Kebebasan Informat Kementerian Kesehatan…
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