Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he was "confident" Israel would reach a deal with Pfizer to procure its COVID-19 vaccines, which the company said has been proved effective in 90% of the cases in its clinical trial.
Netanyahu's statement followed a conversation he had with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, the Prime Minister's Office said.
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"After this conversation [with Bourla], which was very matter-of-fact and very practical, I'm convinced we'll complete the contract with Pfizer," Netanyahu asserted. "I am constantly working to bring vaccines to Israel. I have just finished a very warm and cordial conversation with Albert Burla. The whole world wants to get its medicines. We are negotiating with them," he added.
"I asked to speak to him, he immediately replied. It turns out that Albert Burla is very proud of his Greek and Jewish origins from Thessaloniki, and he told me that he very much appreciates the cultivation of relations between Greece and Israel, which I have been leading in recent years," Netanyahu noted.
Several hours after the statement, Israeli officials said that the pharmaceutical giant was likely to earmark 3 million COVID vaccines for Israel.
However, it is unknown at this time when the vaccine will receive its final approval from the Food and Drug Administration, when mass-production will begin, and where Israel is slated on the list of countries negotiating with Pfizer – something that will affect the question of when the vaccine becomes available to the Israeli public.
Israel signed a contract with US biotech firm Moderna, which is also developing a vaccine, in June. Reports on Wednesday suggested the company would release early data from a late-stage trial of its experimental coronavirus vaccine later this month.
CEO Stephane Bancel commented on the effectiveness of the company's vaccine Wednesday, saying it was too early to come to conclusions. The pharma giant is expected to make an official announcement on the vaccine's efficienty by the end of the month.
Moderna is conducting a clinical trial of 30,000 participants, with half receiving the vaccine and half receiving a placebo, which is a shot of saline that does nothing. In order for Moderna's vaccine to be considered for authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration, at least 53 study participants needed to become ill with COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the renowned medical journal The Lancet, said that Pfizer's vaccine should not be seen as a "magic bullet" against the coronavirus.
"The vaccine announced today is an interim analysis, it's not the final bottom line on the study. True, it seems there may be a 90% effectiveness rate, but we haven't seen the full data yet," Horton, who is also receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa, cautioned.
"We have every reason to be hopeful that there will be more than one vaccine," he said, also pointing to the fact that there are unregulated vaccines already given out to service members of the military in Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates.
None of those vaccines have undergone clinical trials and they would not receive approval in Western countries like the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel.
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