In a wide-ranging and forthright interview with Freddie Sayers, Professor Cyrille Cohen, head of Immunology at Bar Ilan University and a member of the advisory committee for vaccines for the Israeli Government said: - The Green Pass / vaccine passport concept was no longer relevant in the Omicron era and should be phased out (he expected it to be in short order in Israel) - He and his colleagues were surprised and disappointed that the vaccines did not prevent transmission, as they had originally hoped - The biggest mistake of the pandemic in Israel was closing schools and education – he apologised for that - Widespread infection is now an inevitable part of future immunity — otherwise known as herd immunity - Omicron has accelerated the pandemic into the endemic phase, in which Covid will be “like flu” Listen to the podcast version: https://shows.acast.com/lockdowntv-with-freddie-sayers/israeli-vaccine-advisor-we-have-made-mistakes Accompanying article here: https://unherd.com/thepost/israeli-vaccine-chief-we-have-made-mistakes/ Follow UnHerd on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/unherd Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unherd/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unherd/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unherdtv // TIMECODES // 00:00 - 01:39 - Introduction 01:39 - 04:03 - What has Israel learned from its approach to covid? 04:03 - 05:38 - Was Professor Cyrille Cohen surprised to learn that the vaccines are less effective at preventing transmission than hoped? 05:38 - 10:32 - Should vaccine passports be phased out in the Omicron era? 10:32 - 12:58 - Why was ‘herd immunity’ so controversial - and is it making a comeback? 12:58 - 14:41 - What does Cyrille Cohen think of the UK’s covid experience? 14:41 - 16:50 - Has the politicisation of science been strange to the professor? 16:50 - 22:14 - What would Cyrille do differently if he was advising the Israeli government on a future pandemic? 22:14 - 25:45 - Is Omicron the end of the pandemic? 25:45 - 28:39 - Should we just leave anti-vaxxers alone? 28:39 - 29:50 - Are cancer vaccines just around the corner? 29:50 - 31:08 - Concluding thoughts #Covid19 #Vaccines #UnHerd