(Newsweek) Dr. Mohammed Al-Nabari - In the Bedouin village of Sa'wa in southern Israel, participation in getting vaccinated was extremely low. Vaccinating the people depended on Hassan, the village's beloved and trusted Imam. He was eager to lead by example, but at 46, he was too young to be eligible for a vaccine during the early stage of the rollout. So after calling upon relationships developed over the years with various ministries and medical insurance agencies, the Imam received the vaccine and spoke about it at Friday prayers. Over the following days, more and more residents signed up. We learned that many women were uncomfortable attending vaccination clinics with men present. The women-only clinic we opened with Magen David Adom proved to be a game changer, with over 400 women showing up on its first day of operation. In my hometown of Hura, we received unprecedented support from the Israeli Home Front Command; a Muslim cleric rode through the town with a bullhorn atop an Israeli military vehicle, shouting vaccine information to passersby. The writer is former mayor of the Israeli Bedouin town of Hura (2004-2018).
2021-03-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive