Israel Covid-19 vaccine head: We lack support

Israel Institute of Biological Research director general Prof. Shmuel Shapira has voiced criticism of the overly strict regulation applied to the development of the Covid-19 human vaccine that his institute is developing, and the speed with which the government has closed huge deals with overseas pharmaceutical companies for their vaccines.

He told the Knesset Science and Technology Committee, “We don’t have strong enough backing. There is in Israel a very big tendency to give respect to companies whose mother tongue is English. We are not a company that is offering shares, there are no shares in the Institute. We are very very reliable. Our professional and ethical commitment is very high, and we keep our feet firmly on the ground.”

Shapira added, “We have come a long way, which was very difficult. The very strict regulator in Germany,where people are very formal, saw what we had been though and thought that it was too long and too complicated, and I won’t expand on that. Even senior people in Israel want to volunteer for our next trial.”

Israel has already ordered eight million doses of vaccine from Pfizer, 10 million doses from AstraZeneca, and unknown millions from Moderna. Vaccinations should begin in January, while the Israel Institute of Biological Research’s vaccination won’t be ready until the summer at the earliest. The Institute began vaccinating volunteers early last month, as part of a Phase I trial to see if the vaccine produces enough antibodies. If that trial is successful, the Institute will begin a Phase II/III trial in the middle of the first half of 2021.

Shapira said, “We are not a commercial company, so we have no business considerations to take into account. There is only one consideration, the benefit of the citizens of the State of Israel. We are the only place in Israel that has the ability to produce vaccines. If we had not encountered obstacles on the way, over-regulation and excessive strictness, which other companies abroad have not had to deal with, then we could already have been in more advanced trials.”

“Every day we have to fight and I hope that we won’t have to overcome  more hitches. We already have an effective and safe vaccine. We tried it out on four types of animals before we moved onto human trials. With small animals and mice it was both effective and safe, and now we have 80 volunteers with barely any side effects. In contrast to declarations from other companies, we are very responsible.”

He said that the Israeli vaccine would probably require only one injection, compared with two for all the companies that have announced successful Phase III results. “It would be very difficult to vaccinate all of Israel once, but to have to do it twice?”

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He continued, “Even though we speak Hebrew, I would still like to receive support. I think that scientific truth will triumph. I very much hope that everyone will understand that genuine scientists are behind this. Our interest is properly scientific. So far we have invested NIS 250 million, so the cost is very attractive. We have received enquiries from all round the world.”

The Israeli vaccine uses similar technology to that being developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, based on genetic engineering of the virus in such a way that it does not harm humans.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 1, 2020

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020

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Watch Baystate Health unpack first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine (video)

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Health received its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday.

The shipment of the Pfizer vaccine contained 1,950 doses for select frontline workers. Video of Baystate receiving the shipment was released Tuesday.

Team members Dr. Andrew Artenstein, chief physician executive; Aaron Michelucci, senior director of Acute Care Pharmacy; and Richard Wojtowicz, manager of Pharmacy Business and Purchasing, unboxed the first of the vaccines to be placed in the Ultra Cool Storage.

When vaccination begins, hospitals will report data into the state Department of Public Health.

The DPH and the Command Center will launch a public dashboard to keep track of immunizations administered next week.

More than 53,625 doses have begun to arrive to more than 15 hospitals statewide.

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Citing logistics know-how, IDF offers to aid distribution of COVID-19 vaccines

The Israel Defense Forces has offered to assist the Health Ministry in the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, citing its significant logistics capabilities, a senior military official said Sunday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that Health Ministry Director-General Chezy Levy appeared interested in having the military take part in the effort. As several vaccine options have been proven effective against the COVID-19 virus in recent weeks, Israel has begun preparing for the massive organizational challenge of distributing them to millions of people, an effort that will require — among other things — powerful refrigeration in order to keep the doses at temperatures far below zero.

“This is a big operation, and the IDF has the capabilities to do it,” the officer said, without clarifying if they were also offering to help with the administration of the vaccine.

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The offer came as the IDF’s Alon coronavirus task force has become fully operational, overseeing the national effort to curb the spread of the disease through contact tracing, sampling and testing.

The senior official from the IDF Home Front Command said the task force was currently capable of performing 60,000 to 70,000 tests daily and would be able to conduct roughly 100,000 per day in the coming weeks. Its roughly 3,000 contact tracers have also succeeded in tracking the spread of the disease, allowing authorities to inform people who have been exposed to a confirmed carrier that they must enter quarantine.

Healthcare workers take test samples from Israelis to check if they have been infected with the coronavirus in Lod, on December 1, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

According to the officer, the task force has determined that roughly half of current cases can be traced back to the education system, which fully reopened on Sunday. The other half have mostly been tied to various workplaces.

Earlier on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of students in grades 7-10 returned to class for the first time in over two months.

Grades 7-10 were the last students remaining at home since a second nationwide lockdown was imposed in mid-September. Starting late October, the government has gradually reopened the school system, permitting first younger students, and then high schoolers, to return to class several days a week.

The reopening of schools in May, and again on September 1, was blamed for a serious uptick in coronavirus cases around the country.

In October, the Alon task force warned that people were not fully cooperating with contact tracers, hiding interactions from the military and hampering its efforts at rooting out sources of outbreaks. On Sunday, the Home Front Command official said the public has been improving in this regard, though the military still believes that — for whatever reason — people still do not fully report their contacts with others.

In October, roughly a quarter of all those who spoke to contact tracers reported having zero interactions with other people. Now, just two percent of people report having no contact with other people, the officer said.

IDF soldiers perform contact tracing for coronavirus patients. (Israel Defense Forces)

The official said the task force’s improved capabilities have led to demonstrable cases of limiting the spread of the disease. The officer gave an example of an outbreak at a factory in the central city of Yavne where 150 people worked.

Within less than a day, the task force identified the factory as a possible source of the outbreak and tested all of the employees, finding that 30 of them had contracted the disease.

The official said the military had already begun testing in large factories where infections can spread rapidly, finding that those who abide by coronavirus regulations actually do succeed in preventing outbreaks with infection rates lower than the national average.

The Alon task force was planning to begin testing next at public transportation hubs — bus and train stations — to see if these contribute to the spread of the virus throughout the country.

There were 988 new virus cases diagnosed on Saturday, the Health Ministry said in a statement on Sunday morning. There were 25,308 tests carried out with a 3.9% positivity rate. Testing levels tend to drop over the weekend.

The number of active cases stood at 13,340, of whom 336 were in serious condition. The total number of diagnosed cases since the start of the pandemic stood at 344,288.

The death toll climbed to 2,916.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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Israel Secures Six Million Doses Of Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine

This creative image taken in a studio in Paris on November 16, 2020, showing a syringe and a vaccine vial with the reproduced logo of a US biotech firm Moderna, illustrates the announcement of an experimental vaccine against Covid-19 from Moderna that would be nearly 95% effective, marking a second major step forward in the quest to end the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)

Israel said on Friday it had signed a deal to buy six million Covid-19 vaccine doses from US biotech company Moderna that are expected to be delivered in 2021.

“Today we signed with Moderna for the supply of six million vaccines for you, citizens of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Twitter.

“This is triple the number of vaccines in the original contract,” he said, adding, “This gives us hope… We see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The vaccine requires two doses, so the agreement would ensure that three million Israelis receive the Moderna vaccine, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

In mid-November, Netanyahu announced an agreement with US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to buy eight million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine for delivery in early 2021.

READ ALSO: Biden Asks Scientist Fauci To Join His COVID-19 Team

Moderna said Thursday it expects to have 100-125 million doses of its vaccine available in the first quarter of 2021.

Between 85 and 100 million of these doses will be reserved for the United States, and 15-25 million for the rest of the world, it added.

Israeli authorities imposed a second nationwide lockdown in September, when the country had one of the world’s highest novel coronavirus infection rates.

Restrictions have since been gradually eased.

Israel, a country of nine million, has officially reported more than 341,700 cases of infection, including about 2,900 virus deaths, since the start of its outbreak.

AFP

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COVID-19 Latest: What Marylanders Need To Know About The Coronavirus Vaccine

ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — If the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are approved by the FDA in the next few days, some Marylanders could have the vaccine available to them as soon as December 14- next Monday.

Gov. Larry Hogan announced the possibility in a press conference with state health officials Tuesday, saying Pfizer’s vaccine could be available to certain priority groups as early as the Monday date, with Moderna possibly rolling out December 22.

RELATED COVERAGE:

With news of a vaccine comes questions on what Marylanders can expect once it rolls out.

Deputy Health Secretary Dr. Jinlene Chan laid out some questions she thinks Marylanders will have on their minds as they weigh the possibility of taking the vaccine over the next few months.

Is the vaccine safe? Are there potential side effects? 

What we know from the vaccine trials: Pfizer enrolled over 40,000 people- a large vaccination trial. Moderna enrolled about 30,000 people, with some “significant efforts to ensure diversity and the people that were enrolled, both in terms of age, race and ethnicity,” Dr. Chan said Tuesday.

People who took the vaccines did experience some mild side effects, but most people did not. The side effects usually came up in the first one or two days after getting vaccinated- and they are what some might expect, Dr. Chan said. The side effects included pain at the site of the injection, mild fever, headache, muscle aches and joint aches.

Dr. Chan said that these side effects show the vaccine is working.

“The body’s immune system was responding to the vaccine, to be able to produce those protective antibodies that would ultimately protect that individual against getting the disease itself,” she said.

For both Pfizer and Moderna, no safety concerns were flagged throughout the vaccine trials to date. They will be continuing to monitor trial participants for the next few years.

Is the vaccine safe for children? 

The trials have only enrolled adults so far. Any approval or recommendation from the CDC for a vaccine will only be for adults at this time. However, children as young as 12 years old are starting to be enrolled in clinical trials.

“We anticipate the results from future trials will provide us more insight on the efficacy and safety in children,” Dr. Chan said.

Will I need to get vaccinated every year?

At this point, we don’t know, Dr. Chan says. There are some who suggest that it may be similar to the flu vaccine where you should get a vaccine or booster once a year, but health officials do not know if that will be necessary at this time.

Will I need to wear a mask after getting vaccinated? 

It is still important for everyone to wear a mask, Dr. Chan said, even after you’ve received the vaccine.

She said the vaccine will protect the person who is vaccinated, but it is still important to social distance, wash your hands and wear a mask to prevent the potential transfer or spread of the coronavirus to people who are unvaccinated.

When can I pre-register for the vaccine? 

In the coming weeks, the state will roll out information including a mechanism for Marylanders in the first few priority groups to pre-register and sign up for an appointment for the vaccine.

As the state moves into Phases 2 and 3, they will have more information on that for all Marylanders.

For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department’s website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ’s coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.

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