Head of Biological Research Institute: Third Phase of Vaccine Trial to Begin in April

During Monday’s meeting of the Science and Technology Committee on the various coronavirus vaccines, Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) Director-General Professor Shmuel Shapira said, “We have the ability to produce 15 million vaccine doses for the benefit of the citizens of the State of Israel, and our ethical and professional commitment is very [strong]. Our vaccine is a safe foot on the ground. We don’t have any stocks, and we have no economic considerations, only the good of the citizens of Israel.”

“The scientific truth will prevail. We are not birds on a tree, but a scientific foot on the ground,” Prof. Shapira told the committee chaired by MK Einav Kabla (Blue and White), while stressing that IIBR’s approach is purely scientific, “so people will believe our vaccine.”

Shapira said countries from all over the world “are asking to join our experiment,” adding “many people in the State of Israel, including senior officials in the health-care system, want to be a part of the second phase of our vaccine experiment.”

Prof. Shapira ​said, “We completed the first phase five days ago, and we are set to begin the second phase within 10 days. Had we not encountered over regulation, we would have progressed more. We were supposed to already be in the third phase, but now we will reach it only in April.” ​