Nathan Jeffay is The Times of Israel's health and science correspondent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives a certificate after having his second COVID vaccine shot, on January 09, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90) Doctors and health experts have been pouring cold water on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Israel may soon be “done with COVID, period” due to the success of the vaccination operation. “This is a political, not a professional, statement,” Prof. Hagai Levine, epidemiologist and former head of Israel’s doctors union, told The Times of Israel. Levine is a known critic of the government, and recently made a brief foray into politics, but numerous others without political connections share his view. According to immunologist Prof. Tomer Hertz of Ben Gurion University, Netanyahu’s claim “is a campaign statement similar to many others he has made.”