JERUSALEM (PA) – After running ahead in the race to inoculate its population against coronavirus, Israel has reached an agreement with Pfizer, promising to share numerous medical data with the international drug giant in exchange for the continuous flow of vaccine .
Proponents say the deal could make Israel the first country to vaccinate its majority of the population, while providing valuable research that could help the rest of the world. But critics say the agreement raises major ethical concerns, including possible violations of privacy and a deepening global divide that allows rich countries to store vaccines as poorer populations, including Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza occupied by Israel, have to wait longer. much to be inoculated.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – approaching the March elections as Israel’s chief vaccinator – said earlier this month that it had reached an agreement with Pfizer’s chief executive to speed up the delivery of vaccines to Israel.
“Israel will be a global model state,” he said. “Israel will share with Pfizer and the world the statistics that will help develop coronavirus strategies.”
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein told The Associated Press that the government will provide data to “see how it primarily affects the level of disease in Israel, the ability to open up the economy, the various aspects of social life and whether there are effects of vaccination. ”
The Pfizer vaccine, developed in conjunction with German partner BioNTech, has received emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Union’s regulatory agency and is believed to provide up to 95% protection against COVID-19. But many remain unknown, including long-term protection and whether it can prevent the transmission of the virus.
Israel, home to about 9.3 million people, is considered an ideal place to study these questions. Compulsory universal health care is provided by four publicly funded HMOs, with meticulously digitized medical records. This centralized system has helped Israel deliver more than 2 million doses of the vaccine in less than a month. Israel has also purchased doses of Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
The inoculation flash is a matter of national pride. He is also at the center of Netanyahu’s re-election campaign while trying to divert attention from its ongoing corruption process, Israel’s deep economic crisis and the latest wave of viruses.
The Ministry of Health has registered over 551,000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic and over 4,000 deaths. Israeli officials say they plan to vaccinate most of the country by the end of March, the day of the election.
But the exact quid pro quo between Israel and Pfizer is not clear, even after a drafted version of the agreement was released by the Israeli Ministry of Health on Sunday.
Neither Israel nor Pfizer would say how much Israel paid for the vaccines, although Edelstein called it a “classic win-win” for both sides. Israeli media reported that Israel paid at least 50% more than other countries. The data were reportedly sent to the World Health Organization, but the global body did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Earlier this month, the WHO chief called on drug manufacturers and richer countries to “stop doing bilateral transactions”. saying they hurt a sustained UN effort to widen access. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus did not identify any country or company.
Last week, Dr Siddhartha Datta, manager of the WHO Europe program for vaccine and immunization preventable diseases, said the agency was trying to collect “disaggregated” data – based on age, gender, local area, employment and other factors – and report any safety issues as vaccines are implemented.
Israel has already announced the purchase of millions of doses of vaccine before the Pfizer agreement was announced. It is not clear how the quantity or pace of deliveries has changed or whether the vaccines have been diverted from other countries.
The arrangement drew attention to the unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor nations.. A recent estimate by the International Rescue Committee said the WHO’s global COVAX campaign will vaccinate only 20% of the world’s lowest-income countries by the end of 2021.
“This is a black agreement, under the table, which prefers some countries to others without any transparency,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University in Washington. “Eventually, there will be low- and middle-income countries that will be left behind.”
Dr Nadav Davidovitch, head of the public health school at Ben Gurion University in Israel and a government adviser on coronavirus policy, said the agreement raised worrying concerns about the growing disparity in vaccination efforts.
“In order to eradicate COVID-19 or at least control it effectively, we need to look at the big picture,” Davidovitch said.
This disparity is particularly striking in the case of Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who live under varying degrees of Israeli control and have not yet received vaccines.
While vaccinating its own Arab citizens and Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem annexed by Israel, Israel says it is not responsible for inoculating Palestinians. Edelstein said Israel will consider the aid once it takes care of its own citizens.
But the Palestinians and major human rights groups say Israel remains an occupying power and is responsible for providing them with vaccines. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh recently accused Israel of “racism” but did not publicly call for vaccines.
With tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank working in Israel and its West Bank settlements, experts say Israel should distribute vaccines for ethical and practical reasons.
“I really think we need to see how we get the vaccine for the Palestinian Authority,” said Davidovitch, president of the Israeli Association of Public Health Professionals. “We are talking about this with the Minister of Health and I really hope that this will be resolved soon.”
It is also not certain what information is shared with Pfizer. According to the agreement, “there is no identifiable health information” and the research will be published in a recognized medical journal.
He said Israel would provide Pfizer with weekly data on different ages and demographics. The aim, he said, is to “analyze the epidemiological data resulting from the launch of the product, to determine whether the immunity of the herd is reached after reaching a certain percentage of vaccination coverage in Israel.”
The data, he added, is “intended to help end the global COVID-19 pandemic for the benefit of all patients inside and outside Israel.”
Privacy Israel, an advocacy group that called on the government to disclose the agreement, welcomed its release, but said some questions remained unanswered, especially regarding the handling and security of private information. He also denied certain details, such as key dates and the names of the officials involved. However, he said there was “a little more certainty” about exchanging information with a global corporation.
Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, an expert on digital privacy at the Israel Democracy Institute, questioned the ethics of a deal that could bring millions in profits to Pfizer. She also said that the exchange of large amounts of information could endanger people’s privacy, even if it is supposed to be anonymous.
“If, God forbid, the data set is hacked, then the risk will be yours,” she said, referring to Israeli citizens.