When it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, Israel is one of the few nations that is well ahead of the United States. It has just passed the 50% rate for vaccinating ALL of its residents, not just only those who are senior, which is what we’ve achieved. It also has stockpiled enough vaccines to inoculate all Israelis over the age of 16.

Now Israel is facing the problem that we will probably be experiencing in a few months: What do you do when you run out of people who volunteer to get vaccinated? To ensure that Israel goes from the 50% vax rate to the 75-85% rate that experts say is necessary to establish “herd immunity,” the Israelis have established a “Green Passport” program that will affect…

Sitting over dinner one night in February, Vicki Freed and Brad Tolkin realized both their companies had come up with the same plan. They would help rescue their partners and friends—and the travel agency channel on which Royal Caribbean and World Travel Holdings depend—by offering low- and no-cost loans to tide them over until the expected flood of travelers hits the road. Or the seas.

The Royal Caribbean program is the more audacious, offering three-year interest-free loans to travel agencies that earned a minimum of about $4 million (the exact number differs state by state) from ships in the Royal Caribbean Group with departures between July 1 to December 31, 2019 (the last full six-month period before the pandemic). Agencies can borrow up to 25% of…