US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman visited the country's bio-chemical defense laboratory and was briefed on a coronavirus vaccine prototype for which Israel is seeking US Food and Drug Administration regulation, a US official said on Wednesday.
The vaccine being developed at the Israel Institute for Biological Research, in Ness Ziona, in central Israel, began initial testing in March. A source familiar with IIBR activities said human trials were expected before the year's end.
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A US official described Friedman's Monday visit to the IIBR as part of the two allies' "robust fight against the coronavirus". The Defense Ministry did not comment on the visit.
IIBR is seeking FDA vaccine regulation, the US official added. Asked whether Friedman would help in this regard, the official said only that the envoy "is working tirelessly to ensure that things that [can] help the American people can get to them in the most effective and efficient way."
The FDA website says its "regulations for the development of vaccines ensure their safety, purity, potency, and effectiveness" and could pave the way for a vaccine's use in the United States.
Meanwhile, Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization's emergency program, said Wednesday that while researchers are making "good progress" in developing vaccines against COVID-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, their first use cannot be expected until early 2021.
WHO is working to ensure fair vaccine distribution, but in the meantime, it is key to suppress the virus's spread, Ryan said.
So far, 15,379,791coronavirus cases have been recorded worldwide, including 630,312 deaths. Some 9,354,882 have recovered from the disease.
"We're making good progress," Ryan said, noting that several vaccines were now in phase-3 trials and none had failed, so far, in terms of safety or ability to generate an immune response.
"Realistically it is going to be the first part of next year before we start seeing people getting vaccinated," he told a public event on social media.
WHO was working to expand access to potential vaccines and to help scale-up production capacity, Ryan said.
"And we need to be fair about this, because this is a global good. Vaccines for this pandemic are not for the wealthy, they are not for the poor, they are for everybody," he said.
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