At a government meeting on Sunday, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) condemned the fact that an as-yet unnamed official leaked the details of the country’s agreement with German pharmaceutical company Pfizer for the procurement of its coronavirus vaccine.
“This absolutely should not have happened,” Edelstein fumed. “Last Friday, some official gave the details of the agreement with Pfizer to the media, and I have no doubt that this will make it difficult for us to make subsequent agreements with other companies for their own vaccine products. Naturally, that won’t stop us from trying, and we’ll do everything we can to obtain additional vaccines from other sources, so that we’ll have enough for all Israeli citizens.”
Last Friday, when the news emerged that Israel was about to sign an agreement with Pfizer, the Health Minister let it be known that negotiations were ongoing with additional pharmaceutical companies who are expected to release interim results from Phase 3 trials in the near future, as Pfizer did last week. One of these companies is Moderna, which is also working on a vaccine based on mRNA, an innovative method of vaccinating that has never before been tested on people other than volunteers in clinical trials.
“We must not become complacent,” Edelstein cautioned, as he described the country’s hopes of obtaining sufficient vaccine doses. “We will still need to exercise caution, wear face masks, practice social distancing, and adhere to all the Health Ministry’s guidelines.”
The Health Minister also noted that the Pfizer vaccine has yet to obtain FDA approval, but all the same he struck an optimistic note, saying that “my estimation is that by the beginning of 2021, we will have received a significant number of doses.”