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Nathan Jeffay
Nathan Jeffay
Nathan Jeffay is The Times of Israel's health and science correspondent
In this Jan. 7, 2021, photo, an Israeli military paramedic prepares a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to be administered at a medical center in Ashdod, southern Israel. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
May 6, 2021, 10:40 pm
Pfizer vaccine 96.7% effective at preventing COVID deaths, Israeli data shows
Shots also 97.5% effective against serious illness, and 95.3% effective in preventing infection, according to study published in prestigious medical journal
By Nathan Jeffay
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria inside a biofilm (Dr_Microbe via iStock by Getty Images)
May 6, 2021, 1:48 pm
Israeli scientists develop tiny swallowable ‘tweezers’ for use against bacteria
Creators predict people will one day take pills containing millions of these molecules, capable of breaking through defenses that germs construct around themselves
By Nathan Jeffay
Rescuers at Mount Meron, shortly after tragedy unfolded. Avi Marcus, director the the medical department at United Hatzalah of Israel, is top left. (courtesy of United Hatzalah)
May 3, 2021, 2:57 am
‘Broken’: Meron tragedy reduced Israel’s toughest rescuers to tears, trauma
Medics were left with deep emotional scars. One says he can’t shake memory of a boy he didn’t reach. Another felt like a ’hangman’
By Nathan Jeffay
Screen capture from video of Shahar Ba'al Haness, who was injured during Lag B'Omer celebrations at Mount Meron, seen in Galilee Medical Center, April 30, 2021. (Nathan Jeffay/Times of Israel)
April 30, 2021, 4:46 pm
Buried alive: ‘I thought I was going to die,’ says teen injured in Meron tragedy
Shachar Ba’al Haness, 19, describes how he was crushed beneath a pile of bodies, and struggled to breathe for five minutes until police rescuers pulled him out
By Nathan Jeffay and TOI staff
Naga Sadhu, naked Hindu holy men, wait for the start of a procession towards the river Ganges for Shahi Snan (Royal Bath) during Kumbh Mela, in Haridwar in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Monday, April 12, 2021. As states across India are declaring some version of a lockdown to battle rising COVID-19 cases in a nationwide second-wave, thousands of pilgrims are gathering on the banks of the river Ganges for the Hindu festival. The faithful believe that a dip in the waters of the Ganges will absolve them of their sins and deliver them from the cycle of birth and death. (AP Photo/Karma Sonam)
April 29, 2021, 5:48 pm
The only real herd immunity is global: Why India’s COVID crisis threatens us all
While vaccine-makers are confident their shots block the current Indian variant, it’s transforming the country into a potential breeding ground for new, more resistant mutations
By Nathan Jeffay
Magen David Adom ambulance crew wearing protective clothing after delivering a man suspected of infection with the coronavirus to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, in Jerusalem, on July 20, 2020.(Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
April 29, 2021, 1:56 pm
COVID is causing strokes among the young and healthy, global study indicates
1 in 4 stroke patients with coronavirus are under 55; Jerusalem doctor involved in research says it shines spotlight on results of virus blocking larger blood vessels
By Nathan Jeffay
FILE - In this April 24, 2021, file photo, a COVID-19 patient inside a car, receives oxygen provided by a Gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, in New Delhi, India. India’s death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 200,000 people as a surge has wept the country in recent weeks, a rise rooted in various so-called super-spreader events that were allowed to happen in the months following the autumn when the country had seemingly brought the pandemic under control. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)
April 28, 2021, 3:58 pm
Oxygen to India: Israeli group dispatching medical aid to COVID-stricken country
India is in turmoil, with 350,000 new COVID cases a day and a death toll that just exceeded 200,000; citing ‘shared responsibility’ to overcome virus, IsraAID sending supplies
By Nathan Jeffay
A pregnant woman receives a Covid-19 vaccine injection, at Clalit Covid-19 vaccination center in Or yehuda, on Purim, February 25, 2021. (Flash90)
April 27, 2021, 7:45 pm
COVID vaccines don’t harm ovaries and neither does virus, Jerusalem doctors find
Reassuring women worldwide, Hadassah researchers record no difference in ovary function between those who are immunized and those who are not
By Nathan Jeffay
A healthcare worker prepares the material to test a child for COVID-19, on the outskirts of Montevideo, Uruguay, March 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)
April 27, 2021, 1:42 pm
Israeli aid team heads to Uruguay, where COVID dream has turned to nightmare
The South American country hardly felt the virus last year, but now has the world’s second-highest infection rate and hospitals are under pressure
By Nathan Jeffay
A radiation sign outside the deserted town of Pripyat, some 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, February 4, 2020. Once home to some 50,000 people whose lives were connected to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Pripyat was hastily evacuated one day after a plant reactor exploded on April 26, 1986. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
April 26, 2021, 3:11 pm
Bucking fears, Israeli Chernobyl survivors have normal hospitalization rates
They’re more likely to get checked for abnormal growths, but those exposed to Chernobyl aftermath generally use hospitals no more than the rest of the immigrant population from FSU
By Nathan Jeffay
Illustrative: An Israeli student receives a COVID-19 vaccine injection at a Leumit vaccination center in Tel Aviv, on January 23, 2021, just after the country rolled out inoculation to everyone aged 16-plus. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
April 22, 2021, 9:19 pm
Israel risks losing teenagers to anti-vaxxer influence, warns top doctor
Shlomo Vinker fears inoculation critics slipping into online vacuum left open by authorities, swaying kids; says adult vaccination drive has almost hit ‘ceiling’
By Nathan Jeffay
A father, wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of coronavirus, brings his newborn daughter her mother for breastfeeding in Liege, Belgium, Friday, June 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
April 21, 2021, 7:47 pm
Israeli study boosts belief vaccinated mothers protect babies through their milk
For at least 6 weeks after first COVID shot kicks in, nursing moms produce antibody-packed milk, suggesting they are safe from virus while nursed; no adverse events recorded
By Nathan Jeffay
Illustrative image: a Haredi man receives a coronavirus vaccine in Jerusalem, on March 11, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
April 21, 2021, 6:42 am
‘I’m young, I don’t need it’: Ultra-Orthodox non-vaxxers dig in their heels
Amid Israel’s vaccination success, there are still some 800,000 adults refusing to get shots, many of them Haredi, and they seem motivated by fear, not religious rulings
By Nathan Jeffay
An Israeli man cuts through a huge face mask as Israelis celebrate the end of the outdoor mask mandate, in Jerusalem, April 18, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
April 20, 2021, 7:05 pm
Scientists: Israel proves every developed country can subdue COVID with vaccines
Prof. Dan Yamin says hospitals became safe from meltdown once 50% of over-60s were vaccinated, even with highly infectious variants
By Nathan Jeffay
A dermatologist examining a patient for possible skin cancer (AndreyPopov via iStock by Getty Images)
April 19, 2021, 2:16 pm
Israeli tech said to give precise, knife-free skin cancer diagnosis in seconds
Dropping biopsy, pioneering method uses optics to assess lesions; finds all 15 cancer patients in 90-strong sample
By Nathan Jeffay
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