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A senior Pfizer official called Israel a “sort of laboratory” for the COVID vaccine in comments that were grabbed by local anti-vaccines, rejected by Israeli health officials, and then clarified by the pharmaceutical company.
Philip Dormitzer, chief scientific officer of Pfizer, made the comments at a Zoom meeting of academics last week. They were first reported by Channel 12 News on Friday night.
“At the start of the pandemic, we established a relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Health where they used the Pfizer vaccine exclusively and then monitored it very closely,” Dormitzer told the rally, “so we had a sort of laboratory where we could see the effect. “
He added that Israel “immunized a very high proportion of the population very early on – so this is a way we can almost look to the future: what we see happening in Israel is happening again in the United States. months later ”.
On Sunday morning, the director general of the Ministry of Health, Nachman Ash, rejected the claim that Israel had some kind of exclusive deal with Pfizer. “There is no exclusivity with Pfizer in any form,” he told 103FM radio. “Currently, people over 18 who are vaccinated are given priority to receive the Moderna vaccine. “
Ash said Israel “studies statistics, and the world certainly learns from them, but I’m not ready to use the word ‘laboratory’. Yes, the company learns them from us [effectiveness] of the third dose, but there is no connection with harming the interests of Israeli citizens.
Scientific Director at Pfizer Philip Dormitzer (Screenshot)
Israel was an early leader in COVID vaccinations after making a deal with Pfizer to receive large numbers of vaccine doses ahead of many other countries. He also purchased a smaller number of Moderna vaccines, which he began using more widely in July and August when his Pfizer stock nearly expired. Israel quickly rolled out its vaccines to a large chunk of the population, vaccinating 50 percent of all residents in March, then began an unprecedented rollout of third booster shots in August. As of Sunday, more than 2.8 million people had received a third dose.
Prominent anti-vaccine activists at once in Israel and the world benefited from Dormitzer’s comments over the weekend. Eldad Yaniv, a vocal critic of the government’s COVID approach, shared Channel 12’s report and said he was more supportive of the decision of Israelis “who do not agree to participate in the Pfizer experiment conducted in Israel. “.
Others claimed that Dormitzer’s comments were taken out of context and poorly translated and sensationalized by Channel 12. The Pfizer scientist did not say that Israel and Pfizer have an exclusive deal, but rather Israel. exclusively used the Pfizer vaccine ”. He also did not call Israel a laboratory, but said the deployment of its vaccine offered the opportunity of a “kind of laboratory.”
Pfizer then clarified Dormitzer’s comments in a statement to Channel 12.
“Pfizer is aware of a video clip featuring an interview with one of our scientists who unfortunately got it wrong on a key point that we want to clarify: we are grateful for the cooperation between Pfizer and the Israeli Ministry of Health . This is not a clinical research study. It is a hands-off collaboration in “real world” evidence collection.
The pharmaceutical company also noted that it does not have an exclusive agreement with Israel and that “the country does not serve as a laboratory, but rather, as the first nation to achieve significant vaccination rates, it has been in able to evaluate the vaccine in the real world and duration of protection and share data with the world.
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