EIPA Press Briefing, 03 March 2021
‘The COVID-19 Vaccination campaign: What lessons can be learned from Israel?’
With:
Prof. Ran Balicer
MD, PhD, MPH serves as Chief Innovation Officer for Clalit – Israel’s largest healthcare
organization, Chair of Israel’s National Experts Panel on COVID-19 and serves as a senior advisor
to the Israeli Government and Prime Minister Office on the COVID-19 pandemic response.
Prof. Balicer serves as Commissioner for the Lancet and Financial Times Healthy Futures 2030
International Commission that aim at harnessing innovation globally to improve the health
and wellbeing of young individuals. He also serves in senior advisory groups to the World
Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, and is involved in projects focusing on
chronic diseases monitoring, prevention and control, use of big data and artificial intelligence
in healthcare provision and care integration
Aiman Saif
Coronavirus Project Coordinator for the Arab Sector in Israel
Responsible for the challenging task of coordinating and promoting the COVID-19 vaccination
program in the Arab communities, which are more reluctant to be vaccinated. Saif is overseeing
a campaign to battle cultural challenges and misinformation – prompting Israel to accelerate
a public campaign to combat “fake news” about alleged side effects tro the vaccine. Until
recently, Aiman was the Head of the Authority for the Economic Development of Minorities
in the Prime Minister office, Ministry of Social equality and Ministry of economics. During his
decade-long tenure, Aiman led development processes of unprecedented magnitude.
Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis
Head of public health services at the Israeli Health Ministry
Dr. Preis is one of the most senior officials in Israel’s health system and is a major player in the
COVID-19 cabinet.
Preis is a physician specializing in internal medicine, infectious diseases and public health,
former Deputy Director of Carmel Medical Center in Haifa and Head of Public Health Service.
Between the years 2010-2013 Dr. Preis had served as the chief epidemiologist of the state of
New Hampshire, USA