The Ministry of Health may be forced to freeze its vaccination campaign for two weeks in January, otherwise the injections could run out.
Unless an agreement is reached under the Pfizer vaccine stock ahead of schedule in February, the current stock will run out about ten days at the current vaccination rate – about 150,000 shots per day – Channel 13 reported on Wednesday.
The semi-freezing point will allow those who received the first dose to receive the second dose, but according to the report, no new first doses will be given.
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This in turn is likely to lead to the delay in opening vaccinations to the general public, Channel 12 said. Some officials have previously estimated that it could happen within a week or so, but it may now have to wait a month and a half or longer, the report said.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein confirmed that his ministry may stop administering the first doses for a short time, telling Channel 12 that “the second dose will not be a shortage.”
Edelstein added that he was in contact with Pfizer officials to advance February’s vaccination orders until January, but he said that “even if we were to stop for two weeks” there would still be any other country vaccination per capita ahead.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein receives coronavirus vaccine at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on 19 December 2020. (Amir Cohen / Pool / AFP)
Earlier Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced that 152,000 coronavirus vaccines had been administered on Tuesday, even though Israel had recorded its highest number of new COVID-19 cases since early October.
Government officials set a goal to vaccinate 150,000 Israelis a day by the end of the week.
“On the way to a million vaccinated!” Edelstein tweeted. “Nearly 650,000 in total.”
Israel has boosted its vaccination campaign amid a third national exclusion, which went into effect Sunday night to curb the revival of infections.
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a Clalit vaccination center in Rehovot on December 29, 2020. (Yossi Aloni / Flash90)
The Ministry of Health said 5,583 new cases of coronavirus had been confirmed, the highest daily increase since early October during the second exclusion.
Meanwhile, coronavirus Tsar Nachman Ash has said the closure may need to be intensified and warned of a possible slowdown in the pace of the vaccination campaign.
‘We’re making a big effort to bring the following shipments to the fore so that no gap is created. “If the shipments do not arrive earlier, it is a possibility and it is worrying,” Ash told the Ynet news site.
However, Sharon Elroy-Preis, acting head of the public health services division, expressed concern about a possible shortage of vaccines.
“We are in a routine process of receiving air conditioning vaccines from Pfizer to ensure that this continues,” she told Kan.
She pointed to the ability of hospitals to administer vaccines after inoculating the general public with the maintenance of health facilities this week, and said the ministry wants to hand out special documents to those who have been vaccinated.
Israel began its vaccination process on December 20, focusing on health workers over the age of 60 and some at-risk groups.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel planned to vaccinate some 2.25 million Israelis out of a population of 9.2 million by the end of January.