Israel has launched the fastest Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the world, inoculating almost 20% of its population in three weeks. The small country – with about nine million people, about the same size as New York City – now aims to inoculate most of its population by March.
While Israel’s vaccination campaign is relatively straightforward compared to the mass mobilizations needed for countries like the US that have far more people spread over a larger area of geography, the effort offers some clear lessons.
Ship smaller vaccine shipments
The Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine should be given within five days of leaving the main storage center and within six hours of adding a diluent before five to six doses are withdrawn from a vial.
To cope with that short shelf life and reach less populated and isolated areas, Israel – with the approval of Pfizer – designed a system to divide the company’s 1,000-dose packages into batches of less than a few hundred each. Workers repack the bottles in workstations equipped with massive freezers.
Israel, like most other countries, gives priority to medical professionals, people over the age of 60 and those at high risk as vaccine recipients. But to ensure that vials are not wasted, authorities also allow vaccination centers to eliminate extra doses for anyone who shows up.