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The Health Department said on Sunday evening it would resume administration of the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday morning, after they were suspended for 24 hours over fears of an impending shortage.
The current stockpile of Pfizer vaccines in Israel is due to expire on July 31. Therefore, the Department of Health initially announced that it would suspend administration of the first doses after July 10, as there would be no unexpired vaccine available for the second dose three weeks. later.
But Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday morning that he had negotiated a deal with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to bring the company’s next vaccine delivery forward to August 1.
“With existing stocks, this ensures – from this point on – a continuous inventory of vaccines in the state of Israel,” Bennett revealed at the start of Sunday’s cabinet meeting. “I want to stress: there are vaccines for everyone!
Bennett called on all those who have not yet been vaccinated – “mainly young people but also the elderly” – to do so as soon as possible. The prime minister urged adolescents, the least vaccinated age group in Israel, to get vaccinated, as cases continue to rise and the Delta variant takes hold.
Nachman Ash, the new director general of the health ministry, told Channel 12 News that Israel has approved the administration of a third COVID booster for immunocompromised people, echoing earlier comments by Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz .
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 11, 2021 (Ronen Zvulun / Pool via AP)
Ash said tens of thousands of Israelis eligible for the third dose will be able to schedule appointments with their HMOs in the coming days. He added that the ministry “is considering” a booster dose for everyone over 60, but the decision is unlikely to come anytime soon.
The Department of Health has also recommended giving the vaccine to some children under 12 with serious pre-existing conditions. The recommendation has not yet been fully endorsed by the government; the Pfizer vaccine currently has emergency FDA approval only for people over 12 years of age.
Earlier this month, Israel negotiated a vaccine swap deal with South Korea, shipping 700,000 of its expiring doses of Pfizer to Seoul in exchange for a future shipment of the same number. Israel has a small stock of Moderna vaccines that are only approved for people over 18.
Bennett said on Sunday the cabinet would weigh in establishing a vaccine factory in Israel, “to produce locally made vaccines for ourselves, without depending on others” to deal with both COVID and the threat. future pandemics.
Ash stressed on Sunday that due to the high vaccination rates in Israel, he does not expect cases to reach the numbers they reached in previous waves of COVID.
But, he noted, it’s still hard to predict: “I don’t know if I would plan a big wedding for September.
He added that the ministry is still considering reinstating the “Green Pass” system, which restricts certain activities to people who have been vaccinated.
As of Sunday evening, 248 Israelis had tested positive for COVID since midnight, and 263 the day before. There are 3,984 active COVID cases, with 76 people hospitalized and 47 in serious condition, according to figures from the Ministry of Health. Six people in Israel have died from COVID in the past week, including one person on Sunday.
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