Israel buys more millions of coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer despite its “victory” against the disease

Israel signed on Monday a contract with the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that allows it to obtain, once again, millions of doses of its vaccine against coronavirus covid-19, according to a joint statement from the prime minister’s office and the health ministry.

Almost five million Israelis, that is, more than half of their population, have already received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the statistics published this Monday by the Health Ministry reveal.

“We have signed an agreement with Pfizer to buy millions of doses of its vaccine, which will allow us to continue fighting the coronavirus until the end of 2022,” says the text sent to the press.

A country with 9.2 million inhabitants, which has deployed the most intense vaccination campaign in the world since the end of December, Israel has gradually managed to emerge from its third confinement at the beginning of February.

On Sunday, the measure that required wearing a mask in public places was lifted.

In exchange for quick access to millions of doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, Israel, which has digitized the health data of its entire population, provides the laboratory with information on the effects of the inoculation.

“If we do not face a surprise with variants (of the covid) that the vaccine does not fight, we are in a position to vaccinate the entire population, both adults and children,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the official statement.

Israel, which has confirmed 837,199 infected and 6,340 deaths, has seen a decrease in the epidemic for several weeks, with fewer than 200 new daily cases, against more than 10,000 at the most difficult moment of the health crisis.