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Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said Thursday evening his ministry was set to sign a deal with Pfizer on Friday to purchase millions of doses of its coronavirus vaccine, amid indications they could arrive from ‘by the first quarter of 2021.
The deal will include the purchase of 8 million doses, which will be enough to immunize 4 million people outside of Israel. population of $ 9 million, Edelstein’s office said. Two doses are needed to immunize each person. Delivery of the vaccine will begin in January 2021 and will continue throughout the year, he said.
“The purchase of the vaccine is great news for Israeli citizens,” Edelstein said in a statement. “The Ministry of Health is doing everything to buy different vaccines, so that every citizen can get vaccinated. But until that happens, we must obey the instructions. We must not become complacent.
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He added that the vaccine will only be administered if it is approved by both the FDA in the United States and the Israeli Ministry of Health.
“We are very proud to work with the Israeli government and provide it with our scientific resources and our means of production,” said Dr Miron Livneh, Director of Pfizer in Israel. “Our common goal is to bring a potential COVID-19 vaccine to the people of Israel as soon as possible.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, with then-Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein at the Likud faction meeting in the Knesset, April 30, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton / Flash90)
The dramatic development came hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government and the pharmaceutical giant had come to an agreement to remove any remaining obstacles to signing a deal.
“With legal advisers on both sides, we have removed the last hurdle before signing a contract with Pfizer for the supply of vaccines to Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement broadcast live following a cabinet meeting. -called coronavirus.
“We will get these vaccines like the major countries of the world. It will start in January, it will increase month by month. And we are working, and I am working, to bring vaccines from other sources as well. The more there is, the better, ”he added.
Earlier Thursday, Netanyahu said he spoke with Pfizer chief Albert Bourla overnight and that Israel was set to sign a deal with the pharmaceutical giant within days. The call followed a conversation Wednesday night between the prime minister and Bourla which Netanyahu called “very substantial and very practical.”
Israeli Channel 12 said in an undisclosed report that during the initial appeal, Netanyahu obtained a verbal pledge from Bourla to provide Israel with three million vaccines (six million vaccines) for an initial investment of NIS 100 million. ($ 29.6 million).
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 26, 2019 (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)
However, a spokesperson for Pfizer denied at the time that an agreement with Israel had been reached.
“We are not able to discuss the details of private chats. There is no agreement between Pfizer and Israel at the moment. If that changes, we will do our best to advise him, ”the spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Times of Israel, delivered ahead of Netanyahu’s second call with Bourla.
Pfizer announced Monday that initial data indicated that the vaccine it is developing with its German partner BioNTech is 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, sparking optimism that inoculations against the novel coronavirus may soon be available.
Pfizer’s announcement regarding the results of the vaccine trial, which set the company on track to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later this month. United, was greeted at the time by Netanyahu, who vowed to bring the vaccine to Israel.
Israel has made deals with two other pharmaceutical companies for vaccines and is also developing its own version, but apparently was not actively engaged in talks with Pfizer before Monday’s announcement, putting it at a disadvantage.
One of those two companies, Moderna, said on Wednesday it would likely announce its own preliminary results later this month.
A vial of Russian experimental vaccine against the Sputnik V coronavirus, in Moscow, Russia, September 15, 2020 (Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr / AP)
Israel has already paid a total of NIS 405 million ($ 120 million) to Moderna, which is in phase 3 of vaccine development, and to Arcturus, which is at an early stage of testing, out of around NIS 1 billion. ($ 295 million) set aside. for the purchase of vaccines, according to the Haaretz daily.
Besides the deals with Moderna and Arcturus, Israel has also signed an agreement with Italian biotech company ReiThera to supply a vaccine if and once developed and is in talks with Russia to purchase a vaccine it is in the process of developing.
Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center said last week it had pre-ordered 1.5 million units of the Russian vaccine, which is also in phase 3 and which Moscow says this week has so far proven effective at 92%.
Israel is also developing its own vaccine, albeit at a slower pace, with human trials starting last week.
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