The first batch of the newly approved Pfizer pills to combat the COVID pandemic arrived in Israel on Thursday. The pills, designed for some patients who contract the novel coronavirus and develop symptoms associated with the respiratory illness, were described as a major boost by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
"This delivery carries with it a major promise, because of our rapid action the pills arrived in Israel in a speedy fashion," Bennett said. He added, "The pills will significantly contribute to our ability to weather the peak of the Omicron wave."
Earlier this month, health regulators in the United States authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that those infected with the virus will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the disease. The drug, Paxlovid, is a faster way to treat early COVID-19 symptoms, though initial supplies will be extremely limited. All of the previously authorized drugs against the disease require an IV or an injection.
Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 2.93%, according to Health Ministry data released Thursday. Of the 157,328 people who tested for the virus Wednesday, 3,947 were found to have COVID-19, the highest number recorded since Aug. 8.
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According to Health Ministry data, the number of daily confirmed cases is doubling every three days. The reproduction rate continues to rise and now stands at 1.62, the highest rate recorded in Israel in six months.
There are 20,429 active cases of the virus. There are 94 people in serious condition, 38 of whom are on ventilators.
Israel has seen a worrying increase in infections among the vaccinated. For every 100,000 Israelis aged 60 and under that contracted the virus in recent days, 47 were fully vaccinated, 39 had not received all three recommended doses, and 42 were unvaccinated.
Eleven communities are now designated "red" according to the government's traffic-light program for ranking local authorities according to election levels: Maale Adumim, Kiryat Ono, Tzur Hadassha, Mevasseret Zion, Rishon LeZion, Yavne, Yad Binyamin, Hod Hasharon, Azor, Shtulim, and Revava.
Israel's Oramed Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday its Oravax Medical unit signed a deal with Vietnam's Tan Thanh Holdings for the pre-order of 10 million doses of its oral COVID-19 vaccine that is in clinical trials.
The agreement gives Tan Thanh, a drug distributor, the right to sell Oravax's oral vaccine in development throughout the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, Oramed said.
"The parties have agreed to negotiate follow-on orders potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars," it said, adding the ASEAN region has a prospective patient population of about 660 million.
Nadav Kidron, chief executive of Oramed, said its oral COVID vaccine is undergoing Phase I clinical trials and results should be available in early 2022. The vaccine has been shown to work in animal tests, he said.
As a Communist country, Kidron said, Vietnam could decide on a short Phase II trial and then give emergency authorization. "Potentially, marketing could be very, very fast," he said.
As long as Phase I results are as expected, Kidron believes more countries will be interested since the new technology is not likely to require as many boosters as current vaccines. "The idea is that you take it, and that's going to be your dosing, and you're done," he said.
Last week, Nikki Fried, Florida's Agriculture Commissioner, said that given the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, she was pushing the US Food and Drug Administration to accelerate the review of oral vaccines as an alternative to injections.
"Countries like the US and Israel (which uses the Pfizer vaccine) ... may end up being behind because if developing countries step up their game, they may be having the newest technologies available to them before the Western world," Kidron said.
The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that he is worried about the Omicron and Delta variants of the coronavirus producing a "tsunami" of cases between them, but he is still hopeful that the world will put the worst of the pandemic behind it in 2022.
Two years after the coronavirus first emerged, top officials with the UN health agency cautioned that it is still too early to be reassured by initial data suggesting that Omicron, the latest variant, leads to milder disease. First reported last month in southern Africa, it is already the dominant variant in the United States and parts of Europe.
And after 92 of the WHO's 194 member countries missed a target to vaccinate 40% of their populations by the end of this year, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged everyone to make a "new year's resolution" to get behind a campaign to vaccinate 70% of countries' populations by the beginning of July.
According to WHO figures, the number of COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide increased by 11% last week compared with the previous week, with nearly 4.99 million newly reported from Dec. 20-26. New cases in Europe – which accounted for more than half of the total – were up 3% while those in the Americas rose 39% and there was a 7% increase in Africa. The global gain followed a gradual increase since October.
"I'm highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible (and) circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases," Tedros said at an online news conference. That, he said, will put "immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse."
WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report that the "overall risk" related to Omicron "remains very high." It cited "consistent evidence" that it has a growth advantage over the Delta variant.
It noted that a decline in case incidence has been seen in South Africa, and that early data from that country, the UK, and Denmark suggest a reduced risk of hospitalization with Omicron but said that more data is needed.
WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan underlined that note of caution. He said it will be important in coming weeks to "suppress transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can."
Ryan said that Omicron infections began largely among young people, "but what we haven't seen is the Omicron wave fully established in the broader population. And I'm a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in those older and more vulnerable populations."
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WHO officials didn't offer specific comments on decisions by the US and other countries to reduce self-isolation periods. Ryan said "these are judgement calls that countries make," taking into account scientific, economic, and other factors. He noted that the average incubation period to date has been around five to six days.
"We need to be careful about changing tactics and strategies immediately on the basis of what we're seeing" about Omicron, Ryan said.
Tedros renewed longstanding warnings that "ending health inequity remains the key to ending the pandemic." He said that missing the target of getting 40% of populations vaccinated this year "is not only a moral shame. It cost lives and provided the virus with opportunities to circulate unchecked and mutate."
Countries largely missed the target because of limited supply to low-income nations for most of the year and then vaccines arriving close to their expiry date, without things such as syringes, he said.
All the same, "I still remain optimistic that this can be the year we can not only end the acute stage of the pandemic, but we also chart a path to stronger health security," Tedros said.
With attention focused on the ongoing pandemic and the spread of the Omicron variant, Israel's Health Ministry is reminding the public of the importance of inoculating against the seasonal flu.
According to the Israel Center for Disease Control, 1,849 influenza patients have been hospitalized this season, including children, adolescents, and adults.
So far, just 17% of the population has been vaccinated for the flu.
"The virus can cause serious illness such as pneumonia, other respiratory complications, myocarditis, and even death. This vaccine can be given together with the corona vaccine or at any time interval from it," the Health Ministry said.
In addition to influenza, other respiratory ailments such as bronchitis and pneumonia are leading to hospitalizations among older Israelis.
"We are seeing an increase in respiratory disease and mostly in flu cases in hospitals right now," Dr. Tami Alcalay, Maccabi Healthcare Services' chief nurse, told Ynet News.
"It's a tough disease, and recovery may take over a week. We are still ahead of its peak, and this year will be difficult since we have both the flu and COVID. Last winter, we had COVID but almost no flu, and we are on the verge of the Omicron wave, so we're obviously in a much more complex and difficult situation," she said.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
