Israel, Austria and Denmark establish vaccine-supply alliance
Israel, Austria and Denmark said on Thursday they would set up a joint research and development fund and possibly production facilities for COVID-19 vaccines to ensure they had long-term supplies for booster shots or to contend with virus mutations.
European Union members Austria and Denmark have been chafing at delays in ordering, approving and distributing vaccines within here 27-member bloc that have left it trailing far behind Israel’s world-beating vaccination campaign.
After hosting his Austrian and Danish counterparts for talks and a tour of an Israeli gym open to those documented as having been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 with presumed immunity, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the pact.
“Once we get over this cycle of the disease we have no guarantee that it won’t come back. We don’t know how long – nobody knows – how long these vaccines will hold up,” he said at a joint news conference. “And therefore we have to protect our people against the reemergence of this pandemic or mutations.”
Austria’s Sebastian Kurz said he was “very happy” about an EU vaccine initiative “but we also need to cooperate worldwide”.
The European Commission has said member states were free to strike separate deals should they wish to.
The trilateral pact, Kurz said, would include investment in production plants in Europe and Israel, and each country contributing where it best can to the manufacturing cycle.
“In Austria, for example, lipid production necessary for many vaccines is already taking place,” the chancellor said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her country was looking to expand its production capacity. “We would like in common also to explore possible cooperation on clinical trials” with Israel and Austria, she said.
Netanyahu, who said 90% of eligible Israelis have either received at least one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or recovered from the virus, has made the programme a showcase of his campaign for a March 23 election.
“We will be, together, ‘Vaccination Nations’,” he said of the deal with Austria and Denmark. “And we agreed that if other nations want to join us, we will discuss this among ourselves and welcome others to come in as well.”
Israel expands its COVID-19 vaccination push, scrapping age cap
A month and a half after launching its world-leading coronavirus vaccination campaign, the Jewish state allows all its citizens aged 16 and over to get vaccinated against the pathogen, having already vaccinated 3.3 million citizens with the first vaccine dose and 1.9 million with the second booster shot
Israel expanded its COVID-19 vaccination campaign Thursday morning to include all citizens aged 16 and over.
So far, the Jewish state has only allowed Israelis over the age of 35 to get the vaccine, later adding high school students between the ages of 16–18 to enable them to attend their matriculation exams later in the year.
Some healthcare providers have previously allowed some people under the age of 35 to receive the vaccine, mainly due to fear of discarding unused vaccine doses.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein took to Twitter to urge all citizens to go and get vaccinated.
“Come on down, this is the only way we can beat coronavirus — together”, Edelstein wrote. “Starting this morning, anyone over the age of 16 can get vaccinated. Use this opportunity, almost no other country in the world has it.”
Clalit Health Services CEO Ehud Davidson congratulated on the expansion of the country’s inoculation campaign and joined Edelstein’s call.
“The vaccine is our most efficient tool in dealing with the pandemic,” Davidson said. “We are operating over 170 vaccination centers across the country. Clalit teams, who lead the vaccination campaign with much success and have already vaccinated over 1,650,000 patients are waiting for you — come get vaccinated.”
Health Ministry Director-General instructed the country’s healthcare providers to allow vaccinating citizens between the ages of 18–35 but at the same time, ordered to concentrate efforts on the over-50 age group and housebound citizens.
Israel has already vaccinated 3.3 million of its citizens with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since the country launched its vaccination campaign in December, and 1.9 million of them have also been given the second booster shot — with some 107,000 of them being inoculated on Wednesday alone.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will begin gradually lifting lockdown restrictions next week while urging citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the more infectious British variant of the disease spreads nationwide.
“We are in the midst of a race between the vaccination campaign and the [COVID-19] variant,” Netanyahu told a press conference. “The vaccination campaign is our key to exiting the pandemic.”
The premier also said that 97% of the country’s COVID-19 victims and 93% of serious cases were among those aged 50 and over.
“If we take control of the disease in these age groups, and manage to vaccinate all over 50s, we will be on the path to victory over coronavirus, leaving any surprises like new variants. That is why I am setting a national goal to vaccinate 90% of those aged 50 and over in the next two weeks. It will allow us to gradually open the economy and save lives.”
Meanwhile, the government is scheduled to meet later on Thursday to discuss extending the nationwide lockdown and an exit strategy.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Health Minister Edelstein will demand extending the lockdown’s travel restrictions until Sunday and gradually opening the education system afterward.
Blue & White will demand lifting restrictions starting Friday morning.
Israel to receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as early as December – report
Medical personnel to be vaccinated first, with general population possibly facing winter with no immunization
Israel is expected to receive up to half a million doses of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine against the coronavirus as early as December, one month earlier than originally hoped for, Channel 12 reported Monday.
According to the unsourced report, the country would receive anywhere between 200,000 and 500,000 doses of the vaccine and will devote them primarily to those working in the medical field, while the general population would not be vaccinated this winter.
The report also quoted a senior Health Ministry official as saying that the early arrival of the vaccine would have a “positive” effect on Israel’s battle against COVID-19 this winter.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had signed a deal with Pfizer to purchase coronavirus vaccine shots, days after the US pharmaceutical firm said data suggested its vaccine was 90 percent effective at preventing COVID-19.
As part of the agreement with Pfizer, Netanyahu said Israel would receive 8 million doses of the vaccine, enough to inoculate 4 million Israelis. Netanyahu expressed hope that Pfizer would begin supplying the vaccine in January, pending authorization from health officials in the United States and Israel.
Last Friday, Pfizer announced that it was asking US regulators to allow emergency use of its vaccine, starting the clock on a process that could end in limited first shots being administered as early as next month.
The request came days after Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech updated its data on the effectiveness of the vaccine, announcing that it appeared to be 95% effective at preventing mild to severe COVID-19.
Pursuing another avenue to procure vaccines, Netanyahu announced Friday that Israel was also close to signing a deal with AstraZeneca to purchase “millions” of doses of its vaccine.
If signed, it would be the third deal signed by Israel to receive vaccinations, following similar deals with Pfizer and Moderna. Israel has also been in talks with Russia to receive its Sputnik V vaccine, though some experts have questioned its opaque certification process.
However, none of the deals guarantees a deadline for the arrival of the vaccines, and with mass global demand, it is still not clear how many doses Israel will get, and when.
Israel has also been working on a home-grown vaccine, though it is currently only in phase 1 trials and its development is expected to take months longer than the foreign candidates. Channel 12 reported Friday that it will likely be available to the public this summer.
According to the Health Ministry, 749 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed on Sunday, with 2.3% of tests returning positive.
Of the 8,489 active cases, 128 were in serious condition, 115 of them on ventilators. Another 88 were in moderate condition, with the rest displaying mild or no symptoms.
The death toll stood at 2,810.
The article was published on The Times of Israel
Israeli rapid COVID-19 test to be used in major European airports
A trial of the test last month involving some 400 people at Sheba showed about 95% accuracy.
A rapid COVID-19 screening test developed in Israel will be used to screen passengers in several European airports.
The test involves gargling with a small amount of special mouthwash and spitting it into a test tube.
Virusight Diagnostic, a newly formed Artificial Intelligence health care venture between Sheba Medical Center’s ARC Innovation Center and Newsight Imaging, has signed a strategic letter of intent for rapid screening of airline passengers with ICTS Europe, a security provider at major airports in 23 countries, Newsight announced in a statement on its website.
A trial of the test last month involving some 400 people at Sheba showed about 95% accuracy.
“Tests will be immediate, affordable and monitored, so that airports and airlines can optimize the level of safety by mitigating the risk of COVID-19 infection,” the statement said.
The gargle test uses SpectraLIT, Newsight Imaging’s portable and accurate spectral analysis device, to determine the presence of the COVID-19 virus.
The article was published on The JPost
130 schools now closed; 17,605 staff, students in quarantine for virus
More new diagnoses in Tel Aviv than Jerusalem since Friday, despite more testing in capital; death toll rises as three more people succumb to COVID; 2,474 people currently infected with disease, including 111 new cases
The Education Ministry said on Sunday that 130 schools and kindergartens have been closed due to staff and students contracting the virus in the past 10 days – 24 of them since Saturday.
Additionally, 17,605 students and staff members are now in quarantine, an increase of 1,282 since Saturday.
So far, 352 students and staff members nationwide have been diagnosed with the virus in the current wave, including 22 over the past 24 hours.
The Health Ministry also said that more people have tested positive for coronavirus in Tel Aviv than Jerusalem since Friday, with 46 new cases in the coastal city as opposed to 37 in the capital.
The ministry also reported that over the past five days, some 13,000 tests for the virus were conducted in Jerusalem, while at the same time, only about 3,600 were carried out in Tel Aviv.
According to the ministry’s data, 111 new COVID-19 patients have been diagnosed, with the total number of cases rising to 17,863.
Three more patients have died from virus-related complications, bringing the total number of fatalities from the disease up to 298.
There has also been a climb in the number of people requiring respiratory assistance, with 23 patients currently using ventilators.
The number of daily recoveries has declined over the past few days, with only 26 registered on Sunday, while the number of active patients has risen by 283 to 2,474.
Health officials said Sunday that they fear a new outbreak is taking place in Jaffa, where 10 people have so far been diagnosed with the virus in recent days.
The article was published in Ynet
