Israel's four health care providers have received instructions to prepare to administer COVID vaccines by the end of December, Israel Hayom has learned.
At this stage, it appears that the vaccines will be administered at dedicated centers, rather than at individual clinics. It is possible that special facilities will be set up for this purpose due to logistical demands and the special cooling measures the vaccines require.
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Health Ministry Director-General Professor Hezi Levy met this week with the directors of the four health care management groups – Clalit, Maccabi, Leumit, and Meuhedet – to discuss preparations for one of the biggest and most complicated public vaccination drives Israel has ever seen.
Groundwork for the vaccinations will be assigned to four teams: a team of experts that will determine the vaccination policy and review scientific literature; a logistics team; a team that will oversee operations; and an outreach team that will be responsible for providing the public with information and dealing with members of the public who are reluctant to be vaccinated. A national coordinator will be appointed to oversee the COVID vaccine drive, working under the Health Ministry director general.
As part of the preparations, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has asked that a law on compensation for people injured by vaccines be updated to include the COVID vaccine or vaccines. The law allows people who claim to have sustained injuries from vaccine to receive compensation, if they are approved by a committee of professionals.
"The vaccines we are bringing are vaccines that will be registered with the FDA, so we are calling on people to calm down and when the vaccines arrive, get vaccinated," Levy said.
"How will we protect the public? We'll order vaccines after checking their sources, their effectiveness, and their safety, and made sure their manufacturing process is up to standard. We are working so that the vaccines that arrive in Israel will be effective, safe, and meet the most stringent standards," Levy added.
According to Levy, the Health Ministry is negotiating with a number of companies, with help from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Edelstein.
"We aren't talking about numbers of how they will be supplied, because these are business negotiations that will be carried on in secret. …. I'm optimistic that in 2021 there will be a vaccine. I'm also optimistic that the Israel Institute of Biological Research will provide us with a safe and effective vaccine," he said.
Meanwhile, an official on the Health Ministry committee that advises on vaccines said Thursday that "Israel is chasing two vaccines with identical technology and a platform that might be amazing, but I don't understand why we have neglected other big companies that are working on different technologies."
According to the official, "The technology that Moderna and Pfizer are suing is completely new, while other companies – and even the Russian vaccine, which is based on a weakened live virus – us a platform that has already been in use for years, with which billions of people have been vaccinated. They put hundreds of millions in vaccines that haven't yet been approved, insane amounts of money. If only they work – but it's a big risk."
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