Israel on Monday signed agreements with Pfizer and Moderna to buy millions of additional vaccine doses in 2022, with the option to buy another dose of doses.
Although the exact number of doses from each company remains secret, Hebrew media reports say Israel has agreed to pay 18 million shots from both companies, with the option to buy another million after use.
In an earlier version of the agreement, Israel would buy 36 million shots in one group – with the vast majority coming from Pfizer – a move allegedly numbered by the coalition’s Blue and White party.
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“There were some obstacles in Israel that we had to overcome, and we found a way to overcome them,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Monday, referring to the original agreement reached through political infighting.
‘Israel will once again lead the world in the fight against the coronavirus. There will be no more locks. We got out of there, ‘Netanyahu said.
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, speaks at a Pfizer manufacturing site on February 19, 2021 in Portage, Michigan. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla also announced the deal, saying “governments around the world are working on longer pandemic preparedness,” with Israel as the first.
According to the agreement, the doses required will be adjusted for the different variants of the virus, if necessary.
Channel 12 reported on Sunday that the deal would cost NIS 1.5 billion (about $ 460 million), to be paid for from exorbitant funds from the Ministry of Finance, which would have to relinquish the need for a cabinet or Knesset vote.
According to the report, Blue and White were satisfied with the agreement and did not want to block its implementation.
The government would approve the initial agreement at a cabinet meeting last month, but Defense Secretary Benny Gantz of Blue and White canceled the meeting over Netanyahu’s refusal to hold a vote on a permanent justice minister. Israel is currently without a justice minister, after Gantz’s interim appointment ended earlier this month.
Minister of Defense Benny Gantz (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the swearing-in ceremony for the 24th Knesset, 6 April 2021. (Knesset spokesperson)
“I am glad that despite the unnecessary political problems, we have reached an agreement with Pfizer,” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Monday.
Earlier this month, Israeli television reported that Pfizer was threatening to delay further vaccinations due to delays in payments, warning that the Jewish state could be sent to the back of the queue if it does not pay.
FILE: vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, December 20, 2020. (AP Photo / Ariel Schalit)
Israel and Pfizer agreed to their first vaccine deal in November. The drug company, along with its partner BioNTech, provided Israel with an unspecified number of doses, and the Ministry of Finance said it paid $ 2.6 billion ($ 785 million).
Israel still has enough vaccines to fully vaccinate the remaining non-vaccinated population, while Chezy Levy, director general of the Ministry of Health, gives a single shot to recovered COVID-19 patients. However, he stressed that Israel needed a constant supply of shots and ‘wanted to outrun the rest of the world’.
The additional shots will be for children as soon as they are eligible, and used as shot shots. Nachman Ash, tsar of the Coronavirus, said last week that he believes Israel will start vaccinating children within the next few weeks. Pfizer applied for U.S. consent for 12- to 15-year-olds earlier this month.
