The Israeli Teva Pharmaceuticals firm has signed an exclusive agreement with the government to distribute all the COVID-19 vaccinations in the Jewish State.
Teva Israel CEO Yossi Ofek told the Globes business news site on Sunday, “We are waiting for the green light and the possibility that within several weeks millions of vaccination shots will arrive here.
“It’s looking like Israel will be the first place after the US that will receive vaccinations for a large part of the population, even before Britain.
“But since the announcement the vaccine shots are set to arrive in larger numbers than expected. We have strengthened the readiness at TEVA SLA’s logistics center in Shoham and Teva’s center in Kfar Saba.
“On both these sites there are already freezers that can chill Pfizer’s vaccinations to minus 70 degrees centigrade, and we are in the process of obtaining more freezers, so that within several weeks we can take in three million vaccination doses at this temperature. Moderna’s vaccination is kept at a less low temperature and we are already prepared to receive them today,” he said.
“This is something that we have not ever previously experienced in this field,” Ofek underlined. “We have developed methods in the country to cope with it, from the moment that the plane leaves the factory to us. The process is very complicated and has to be 100 percent successful.”
The plan entails distributing the vaccine to hundreds of clinics, care homes and possibly other institutions as well. At these destinations, the HMO takes responsibility for the package, but from the moment the mini-package comes out of the freezer, it can be kept at the typical temperature for vaccinations of 2 to 8 degrees centigrade for up to five days only. In each package there will be 970 doses, meaning every package will hold enough for 970 Israelis to be vaccinated.
The Health Ministry is expected to give the green light to vaccinate Israel’s population as soon as the FDA approves the vaccine, Ofek said.
“We have responsibility for any defect in the product during the period it is in our hands,” he told Globes. “Regarding responsibility for the product itself, for the efficacy and safety of it, these are part of agreements between Israel and Pfizer and Moderna, in which we are not involved.”