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Israel launched a vaccination campaign in 2020 on December 20. The country first vaccinated health professionals, the elderly and the sick.
According to YY Edelstein, 62, more than 70 percent have already been vaccinated in Israel. adults and about 90 percent. those over 50 years old.
Israel has achieved results that no other country in the world can boast about, mainly because it has managed to enter into exclusive negotiations with Pfizer & BioNTech, the pharmaceutical company that developed the first vaccine against COVID-19. As for why Israel was lucky, Minister YYEdelstein openly told Lietuvos Rytas, but avoided talking about vaccine prices.
– Not only Lithuania, but also the whole world is watching and wondering how quickly COVID-19 is vaccinated in Israel. How did your country manage to negotiate with Pfizer & BioNTech for an extremely large and rapid supply of vaccines? – Lietuvos Rytas asked YYEdelstein.
– This process was carried out in several stages. As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic started and it became clear that more than one company had started developing vaccines, I told ministry staff that as soon as one of the companies already had the vaccine, I would not even look at the little Israeli. market.
I explained to everyone that vaccine developers would be primarily interested in the much larger markets of the US, India or the UK.
Therefore, we have decided to enter into negotiations with several vaccine companies without delay and to closely monitor their progress. It soon became clear that we had not made a mistake in choosing that path.
When we discovered that Pfizer & BioNTech and Moderna were already at the finish line, we realized that we could not delay a day.
The Prime Minister of our country, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been of great help in negotiating the supply of vaccines as soon as possible. He spoke many times with executives at Pfizer & BioNTech and Moderna before getting Pfizer & BioNTech to supply vaccines to Israel.
– What arguments do you and the Prime Minister have to convince Pfizer & BioNTech that this company, like no other country in the world, would not only give the green light but would also supply large quantities of vaccines without interruption?
– We have proposed to this company, taking advantage of the possibilities of our health system, to vaccinate all of Israel in a few months, reaching the most remote places of the country.
This will allow Pfizer & BioNTech to see for themselves the advantages or disadvantages of their vaccine.
The company trusted Israel and we did not let it down. We have already vaccinated more than half of the country’s population. It is a pity that we still cannot vaccinate those under 16 years of age because we still do not have a permit.
– Is it true that only Pfizer & BioNTech is currently used in Israel?
– Yes. By the way, we already have enough Pfizer & BioNTech to start giving people the second dose of the vaccine, but we don’t have enough Moderna vaccines yet. Therefore, there is no need or need for us to use other vaccines that have already been developed.
We are likely to use Moderna to vaccinate not the Israeli people but the Palestinian people.
– Although the European Union (EU) has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at the University of Cambridge, it is viewed with caution in Europe and Lithuania. How does Israel rate this vaccine?
– As far as I know, AstraZeneca vaccine development technology is completely different from Pfizer & BioNTech and Moderna. Although we have a contract to supply AstraZeneca, we have not received it yet.
Therefore, I could not say anything about her, even based on my knowledge as a non-doctor.
– It has been announced that Israel has decided to pay Pfizer & BioNTech and other companies two to three times more for vaccines so that the entire country can be vaccinated as soon as possible and quarantined with the least possible economic loss. Weren’t you really counting the money when you bought the vaccine?
– I will not hide that when we started negotiations on the purchase of vaccines at once with several companies, the representatives of the Ministry of Finance of our country strongly criticized who has such costs and why we decided to pay so much.
I have always responded that all costs will be amortized if we cancel the quarantine at least a week in advance and allow the Israeli economy to start operating at full capacity.
However, I must also say that when we started the vaccine negotiations with Pfizer & BioNTech and Moderna, we had no information on how many vaccines the rest of the world had offered to these companies.
I know how much Israel has paid.
If it ever turns out that the US and the EU paid less than we did, I’ll understand.
But I still don’t think we’ve lost, and my conscience won’t regret it because maybe Israel overpaid for vaccines. After all, you buy 300 million. and everything else to buy 10 million. vaccines.
We have achieved our goal: we are vaccinating rapidly and every day we give the country more and more opportunities to return to a full life.
Having already experienced the third wave of vaccine pandemics, we can open such institutions, the work of which we had not even dreamed of until very recently.
Israeli hotels, cultural institutions, sports clubs open.
– Perhaps you have already predicted when Israel will be able to live as before?
– I don’t think that in the near future we will be able to participate in concerts by well-known groups, which, as before, would gather between 50 and 60 thousand fugitive spectators. But life could certainly return to normal when the majority of the country’s population is vaccinated.
As I said, the biggest problem in our country right now is that we cannot vaccinate people under the age of 16 and, after all, Israel is a young state. About 30 percent. the country’s population is under 16 years of age.
Research is currently underway to see if we can vaccinate young people between the ages of 12 and 16. As soon as we get permission, we can talk about the universal immunity of the country and the return to a full life.
– In Israel, as in other countries, there are fighters against vaccines. How do you treat them? Are you imposing sanctions or trying to persuade you to change your position?
– We try to give you as much information as possible about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, those who spread false information about vaccination through social media or in other ways have to go to the police. And he himself has had to repeatedly take similar measures.
In Israel, the sect of these “antivirals” is not large, but the bad thing is that they are influenced by a large number of people, who in turn spread information on social networks that, let’s say, can produce paralysis of legs or arms six. months after vaccination.
When those “truth preachers” became interested in law enforcement, they quickly calmed down.
Antivakserius, of course, also silenced the fact that more than 70 percent of Israel has already been vaccinated. adults and about 90% over 50 years.
– What side effects do Israelis experience after vaccines?
– Many people are known to have experienced short-term side effects after vaccination. In the ministry, I have formed a special group of professionals who record people’s complaints. They are made public.
Most people complain of serious flu-like illness after the second dose of the vaccine.
I felt it myself after the second dose of the Pfizer & BioNTech vaccine. However, they lasted only a few hours. Some other people feel sick for a day or two.
But today I can safely say that after vaccinating more than 5 million. The vaccine did not cause major problems for the Israeli population.
In contrast, statistics show that severe forms of COVID-19 and deaths from the disease are no longer present.
Pfizer & BioNTech’s prediction that their vaccine provides 95 percent protection against COVID-19 has been substantiated.
– Will that 95 percent be enough? Protection of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines if the virus mutates rapidly?
– This is the most important topic at the moment. The so-called British strain of the virus is now the most common in Israel. The Pfizer & BioNTech vaccine protects against it for now.
This vaccine also outperforms the South African virus strain that has already reached Israel.
A strain of the virus has been detected in our country and in New York.
How vaccines will overcome it, we don’t have the exact answers yet. There is no doubt that there will be more of these virus strains in the future. Some vaccines can be 95% reliable, others 70%.
In any case, the world today knows no other way to protect itself against COVID-19 than vaccination.
– Perhaps Israel itself has plans to develop its own vaccine?
– I will not hide – one of the Israeli research centers is currently developing its own vaccine.
Also, immediately after the interview with you, I will go to a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, which will be attended by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, and the Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz. Let’s talk about joint vaccine production. We already know who could contribute to this with our investments.
– What is the situation in Palestine? Are you vaccinated there too?
– The situation in Palestine is difficult. Unfortunately, vaccination there is slow because the Palestinians didn’t care at the time.
As far as I know, Russia gave them part of their Sputnik vaccine. He also appears to have received a gift from Moderna.
At the request of Palestinian health officials, Israel also provided a series of vaccines to doctors working with COVID-19 patients.
Starting Sunday, we will begin vaccinating about 130,000. Palestinians working in Israel.
We have helped and are helping Palestine as much as we can, although this is not legally binding on Israel. We are well aware that COVID-19 in flames right here poses a great threat to Israel.
– It has been announced that Israel will reopen its main Ben Gurion airport and flights to the US, South Africa and the UK will be opened. What will it require of those who come to Israel, that the people have already been vaccinated or that they have the recent test results?
– The opening of the airport is mainly due to the fact that parliamentary elections will be held in our country in three weeks.
Therefore, we do not have the right not to admit our citizens. However, we are not entirely comfortable with the opening of the airport.
The strictest security measures must be taken. Those who have not yet been vaccinated will need to be quarantined for ten days upon arrival in Israel.
– Do you communicate with God frequently by local phone and talk about how to continue to fight the pandemic?
– We actually have that phone line. (You’re laughing) That virus is very unpredictable. Therefore, many problems can only be overcome with God’s help. I have not yet negotiated with him on medical matters, but I often pray.
