Coronavirus: Israel looks to re-route AstraZeneca vaccines
A day after Netanyahu told Israelis to get ready to be jabbed again in six months, Prof. Nachman Ash reaffirms that there are no certainties on when the next shot will be needed.
By ROSSELLA TERCATIN, REUTERSA vial and sryinge are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken January 11, 2021(photo credit: DADO RUVIC/REUTERS)
Israel no longer wants AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and is exploring with the company whether a big shipment in the pipeline could be sent elsewhere, Israel’s coronavirus commissioner Prof. Nachman Ash said on Wednesday. Ash also reaffirmed that there are no certainties yet on when a vaccine booster will be needed, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis to get ready to be jabbed again in six months.“We are trying to find the best solution. After all, we don’t want (the vaccines) to get here and have to throw them into the trash,” Ash, told Army Radio, saying Israel’s needs were being met by other suppliers.In his remarks, Ash made no reference to AstraZeneca’s vaccine having been associated with very rare blood clots in Europe. Many countries there resumed administering it after the European Union’s drug watchdog said the benefits outweighed the risks.Israel casted a wide net last year when trying to secure vaccine doses at the height of the pandemic and preordered from a number of companies.It largely settled on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, launching one of the world’s swiftest rollouts. COVID-19 infections in Israel have dropped dramatically and the economy has reopened.Israel is also buying the COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, which uses a similar messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.Ash said that with supplies secure through 2022, Israel no longer required the 10 million doses it agreed to purchase from AstraZeneca.“They can certainly be used in other places in the world. At the moment, we are trying to find, along with the company, the best way to do this,” he said.“We believe it would be best if they (the vaccines) did not come to Israel, and we agree with the company on some sort of way to divert them elsewhere.”Officials at AstraZeneca had no immediate comment.
Around 81% of Israeli citizens or residents over 16 – the age group eligible for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Israel – have received both doses.Some 167,000 of the 5.2 million Palestinians in the West Bank and the Islamist Hamas-run Gaza Strip have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with supplies coming in from Israel, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the global COVAX vaccine-sharing program and China.Ash also talked about the outline of the upcoming festival of Lag Ba’omer, which falls on Thursday next week.The day is traditionally marked with bonfires and in normal years dozens of thousands of people gather at Mt. Meron to take part in the celebration.The commissioner said that only green passport holders – people who are fully vaccinated or have recovered – will be able to attend the festivities at Mt. Meron.“We agreed to an outline for reaching Mt. Meron, but we cannot say that there are not any risks,” he told Army Radio.
