Health Ministry DG: Pfizer Vaccine Due in Israel in Q1 of 2021

The director general of the Health Ministry said the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine would arrive in Israel during in the first quarter of 2021.

Professor Chezy Levi told Yediot Sunday that initially a small amount would be supplied, that would be given to the population most at risk from the virus adding that the government is in negotiations with more pharmaceutical companies to receive their vaccines when available.

On Friday, Israel signed a deal with Pfizer to receive 8 million doses of the drug maker’s potential COVID-19 vaccine.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE’s potential vaccine is likely to be a two-dose course of treatment, meaning that 8 million doses would cover 4 million of Israel‘s 9 million population.

Pfizer last week announced that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results.

In addition to its new deal with Pfizer, Israel has an agreement with Moderna for the future purchase of its potential vaccine. Moderna said on Wednesday it had enough data for a first interim analysis of the late-stage trial of its vaccine candidate.