A bottle with the Moderna Inc. Covid-19 vaccine.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
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While countries around the world skarrel for coronavirus vaccines, Israel has so many shots that it retains it Modern Inc. offer pending.
And he does so while under fire because he has not vaccinated the millions of Palestinians under his control.
The vaccine supply surpassed demand in the world’s leading per capita vaccine, which has contracted for millions of doses of Pfizer Inc. and to receive BioNTech SE in exchange for extensive information on the country’s vaccination. People under 50 were less eager than their older compatriots to stand up for a shot, so the rate of vaccination slowed, with 40% of the country’s 9.3 million people receiving the first vaccination.
A box containing scales of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a medical center in Bethlehem, West Bank, on February 7th.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Israel uses Pfizer to speed up vaccine deliveries for data
Eli Gilad, a senior official of the Ministry of Health who worked on the coronavirus, is thanks to steady Pfizer deliveries many of the only deliveries from Moderna, with a total of about 100,000 doses, in cold storage.
“The amount of Moderna in Israel is very small,” and it is not worth putting another vaccine into circulation when the country uses millions of doses of Pfizer, Gilad said.
The Moderna stock – which was delivered in January and can be stored for six months longer – will eventually be used and there is no change to the expected shipments, Gilad said. Guidelines for the use of the vaccine have not been issued, says Avi Levin, who manages the Tel Aviv vaccine for the largest in Israel. health care provider, Clalit Health Services.
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Israel also postpones the receipt of the stock that, through a program allocated by the World Health Organization, postpones an Israeli official on condition of anonymity to discuss the vaccine strategy.
Two thousand doses of Moderna was transferred to the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank to vaccinate medical workers, with an additional 3,000 plan. But for the most part, Israel is making calls to provide vaccinations to Palestinians.
A Palestinian nurse gives a dose of Modner Covid-19 vaccine to a health worker inside a medical center in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Some officials and advocacy groups say Israel has a responsibility or interest in vaccinating the millions of Palestinians under its control.
“The argument that you can not afford to give in to the Palestinians no longer holds,” said Zvi Bentwich, a board member of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel. The unused Moderna doses, he said, “strengthen the argument.”
But even a program to vaccinate Palestinians working in Israel is not yet planned, according to Israeli Deputy Minister Yoav Kisch.
Read more: Short Labor, Israel Builders Attempt to Vaccinate Palestinians
While Moderna and Pfizer both use similar technologies and show almost the same results, there are small differences. The interval between Pfizer shots is three weeks compared to four for Moderna, and Moderna’s vaccine is easier to store and transport, while Pfizer’s requires ultra-cold temperatures.
The minor deviations should not deter Israel from using Moderna, says Eli Waxman, a physicist who leads a team advising Israel’s national security council.
“The most important thing is to get as many vaccines as possible – Moderna, Pfizer – and to get people vaccinated,” Waxman said. “I believe they could handle such a big change without any problems.”
– Assisted by Naomi Kresge