Health Ministry pushing to bring more vaccines to Israel faster

• Date: 29 December 2020
• Published date: 29 December 2020
• Author: MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"We have contacted the vaccine companies and we are trying to bring forward the arrival of the additional vaccines," he said during a briefing from a Sderot vaccination complex. The minister stressed that "there is no shortage – there will be no shortage."

He added that the country is expected to receive millions of vaccine doses in the coming months.

A top health official told The Jerusalem Post that there are already around 3.2 million doses of Pfizer vaccine in Israel – enough to inoculate 1.6 million Israelis – and that another 600,000 were expected to arrive in the country this week.

In contrast, Channel 12 reported that there were currently only 1.4 million doses in Israel with another 2.4 million doses expected to arrive this week.

Either way, Israel is expected to have around 3.8 million in Israel by the end of the year.

The news station added that another four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine were expected to come in February and one million from Moderna by March. The Health Ministry's efforts are intended to push Pfizer to deliver more vaccines in January, which would allow Israel to continue vaccinating at its current pace or faster.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he wants to see vaccinations increase to 150,000 people per day – 2.25 million Israelis within six weeks.

The Health Ministry could not confirm the number of vaccines in Israel due to confidentiality agreements with Pfizer. However, what Israelis do know is that the country has ordered eight million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and another six million doses from Moderna.

Israel also has a contract for 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"I saw today the vaccinations of the medical staff and the population over the age of 60," Edelstein said during the briefing. "We are working at a crazy pace, approaching half a million people vaccinated."

SOON AFTER on Monday, the Maccabi Health Fund announced that it had vaccinated its 100,000th person: 100-year-old Yosef Cohen.

"I call on each of you to get vaccinated," Cohen said, "because it is very important. Take care of the older people in your family and get vaccinated."

Cohen said he will celebrate his 101st birthday next month around the time he is expected to receive the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. He said the inoculation will be a "special birthday present."

But Edelstein said that the country must operate on two tracks: vaccination and lockdown, the latter of which was passed by the government last...