A bottle of Modern Vaccine Inc. Covid-19.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
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While countries around the world stir for coronavirus vaccines, Israel has so many shots that it continues to maintain its effects Supply of Modern Inc. waiting.
And it does so while under fire for not inoculating the millions of Palestinians under its control.
Vaccine supply has outstripped demand for the world’s leading per capita inoculator, which has contracted to receive millions of doses from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in exchange for comprehensive data on vaccine launches in the country. People under the age of 50 have been less eager than their older compatriots to line up to shoot, so the rate of vaccination has slowed, with 40% of the country’s 9.3 million people who have received the first inoculation.
A box containing vials of the Modern Covid-19 vaccine inside a medical center in Bethlehem, West Bank, on February 7th.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Israel agrees with Pfizer to speed up vaccine data delivery
Thanks to constant shipments from Pfizer, much of Moderna’s only delivery, which totals around 100,000 doses, remains in the cold store, according to Eli Gilad, a senior Ministry of Health official working on the coronavirus.
“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 supply, which was delivered in January and may remain in long-term storage for six months, will eventually be used and there has been no change in planned shipments, Gilad said. Guidelines for vaccine use have not been published, said Avi Levin, who manages the Tel Aviv vaccine complex health care provider, Clalit Health Services.
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Israel is also postponing the receipt of the allocated supply through a program supported by the World Health Organization, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the vaccine strategy.
Two thousand doses of Modern were transferred to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority to inoculate medical workers, with 3,000 more planned. But for the most part, Israel is eliminating calls to provide vaccines to Palestinians.
A Palestinian nurse administers a dose of the Modern Covid-19 vaccine to a health worker inside a medical center in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Some officials and advocacy groups claim that Israel has a responsibility or interest in inoculating millions of Palestinians under its control.
“The argument that you can’t afford to give to the Palestinians no longer holds,” said Zvi Bentwich, a member of the board of Doctors for Human Rights – Israel. He said unused doses of Moderna “reinforce this argument.”
But even a program to vaccinate Palestinians working in Israel is not yet underway, according to Israeli Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch.
Read more: Short-term workers, Israeli builders seek to vaccinate Palestinians
Although Moderna and Pfizer use similar technology and have shown almost identical 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 requires extremely cold temperatures.
Minor discrepancies should not deter Israel from using Modern, said 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 we can (Modern, Pfizer) and vaccinate people,” Waxman said. “I think they could handle this modification without much difficulty.”
– With the assistance of Naomi Kresge