Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has issued instructions to set up a permanent facility in Israel to manufacture vaccines, as Israel's first clinical trials of the Brilife COVID- vaccine contender developed by the Israel Institute of Biological Research began at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu visited Sheba Medical Center on Sunday morning, along with Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, and IIBR Director Professor Shmuel Shapira.
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The first two volunteers to receive the vaccine were Segev Harel, 26, of Kibbutz Sde Nehemia, and Anar Ottolenghi, 34, of Moshav Talalim.
"First of all, I would like to thank you. At the time [in February], I asked the IIBR to move toward an Israeli vaccine to vaccinate Israel against the COVID problem. Since then, we've been through the first wave. We were the first country to declare a lockdown and we came out of it well.
"Now that we have experienced the second wave, we were almost the first country to declare a lockdown. Now that we are coming out of it, European countries are locking down very strictly. The real exit from the crisis will be through developing a vaccine. We have a very important day, one that gives us a shot of encouragement," Netanyahu said.
Professor Yitzhak Kreiss, director of Sheba Medical Center, said, "This is a historic day, a day of celebration. Prime Minister, thank you for your trust. I was here in February when we took in the first [COVID[ patient, and you understand that our job is allow for breathing room, to lend our hand to the development of vaccines, to innovation. We are doing that and will continue to do that. We had no doubt that this special group of people at the forefront of global research will manage to find Israel a possible solution for COVID. I also thank the IIBR, with which we are cooperating."
Israel's death toll from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic stood at 2,541 on Sunday morning, while a total of 301,624 people have contracted the virus but recovered.
There were 10,370 active or symptomatic cases throughout Israel on Sunday, 735 of whom were hospitalized. Of all hospitalized patients, 415 were listed in serious condition and 171 were on ventilators.
A total of 756 medical personnel were in quarantine, including 96 doctors and 227 nurses.
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