An Israeli health official revealed on Sunday that Israel is currently in talks with several other countries over plans to redistribute some of its surplus stock of COVID-19 vaccines. The doses, developed by vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech, are due to expire by the end of the month.
Hezi Levi, the ministry’s director-general, revealed that a deal was discussed with the United Kingdom but has since fallen through. Currently, Israel has continued talks with other countries. There are approximately one million doses that are up for redistribution, the expiration date of which is July 31st.
Israel’s vaccine rollout, which began in December, has proven to be one of the fastest executed campaigns worldwide, with approximately 90% of people over the age of 50 being fully inoculated since its start.
While daily coronavirus cases have fallen from 10,000 to single digits since the start of the outbreak, a small uptick in cases began in June, due to the more contagious Delta variant. According to Levi, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has proven to be approximately 85-88% effective against the delta variant.
As a result of the emergence of the delta variant, inoculations have risen dramatically, particularly among schoolchildren who are now eligible to get the vaccine.
