KINGSPORT, Tenn.As the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. stalls, health officials have embarked on a painstaking effort to get shots to undecided or isolated Americans.
That often requires bringing vaccines directly to the unvaccinated and talking to them one by one. Health officials are using pop-up and mobile clinics and financial incentives. And they are turning to community leaders to make introductions to the skeptical.
Pastor Barry Braan Jr. was doing just that kind of outreach last month at a Juneteenth festival in northeastern Tennessee, where two pop-up vaccination stations were set up amid the food trucks and face-painting stalls.
A few months earlier, Mr. Braan himself had been reluctant to get vaccinated. He had recovered from a bout with Covid-19, he said, and he was skeptical reliable vaccines could have been developed so quickly. A conversation with a local health official helped change his mind, and now he wants to do the same for others.
Having those one-on-one conversations that address their individual concerns are paramount, he said. Getting to a place where you can do that, Im finding difficult.
Pfizer is about to seek U.S. authorization for a third dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, saying Thursday that another shot within 12 months could dramatically boost immunity and maybe help ward off the latest worrisome coronavirus mutant.
Research from multiple countries shows the Pfizer shot and other widely used Covid-19 vaccines offer strong protection against the highly contagious Delta variant, which is spreading rapidly around the world and now accounts for most new U.S. infections.
Two doses of most vaccines are critical to develop high levels of virus-fighting antibodies against all versions of the coronavirus, not just the Delta variant and most of the world still is desperate to get those initial protective doses as the pandemic continues to rage.
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But antibodies naturally wane over time, so studies also are underway to tell if and when boosters might be needed.
On Thursday, Pfizers Mikael Dolsten told the Associated Press that early data from the companys booster study suggests peoples antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier.
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In August, Pfizer plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of a third dose, he said.
Why might that matter for fighting the Delta variant? Dolsten pointed to data from Britain and Israel showing the Pfizer vaccine neutralizes the Delta variant very well. The assumption, he said, is that when antibodies drop low enough, the Delta virus eventually could cause a mild infection before the immune system kicks back in.
But FDA authorization would be just a first step it wouldnt automatically mean Americans get offered boosters, cautioned William Schaffner, a vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Public health authorities would have to decide if theyre really needed, especially since millions of people have no protection.
The vaccines were designed to keep us out of the hospital and continue to do so despite the more contagious Delta variant, he said. Giving another dose would be a huge effort while we are at the moment striving to get people the first dose.
Hours after Pfizers announcement, U.S. health officials issued a statement saying fully vaccinated Americans dont need a booster yet.
U.S. health agencies are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint statement. That work will include data from the drug companies, but does not rely on those data exclusively, and any decision on booster shots would happen only when the science demonstrates that they are needed, the agencies said.
Currently only about 48% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and some parts of the country have far lower immunization rates, places where the Delta variant is surging. On Thursday, Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, said thats leading to two truths highly immunized swaths of America are getting back to normal while hospitalizations are rising in other places.
This rapid rise is troubling, she said: A few weeks ago the Delta variant accounted for just over a quarter of new U.S. cases, but it now accounts for just over 50% and in some places, such as parts of the Midwest, as much as 80%.
Also Thursday, researchers from Frances Pasteur Institute reported new evidence that full vaccination is critical.
In laboratory tests, blood from several dozen people given their first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines barely inhibited the Delta variant, the team reported in the journal Nature. But weeks after getting their second dose, nearly all had what researchers deemed an immune boost strong enough to neutralize the Delta variant even if it was a little less potent than against earlier versions of the virus.
The French researchers also tested unvaccinated people who had survived a bout of the coronavirus, and found their antibodies were four-fold less potent against the new mutant. But a single vaccine dose dramatically boosted their antibody levels sparking cross-protection against the Delta variant and two other mutants, the study found. That supports public health recommendations that Covid-19 survivors get vaccinated rather than relying on natural immunity.
The lab experiments add to real-world data that the Delta variants mutations arent evading the vaccines most widely used in Western countries, but underscore that its crucial to get more of the world immunized before the virus evolves even more.
Researchers in Britain found two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, for example, are 96% protective against hospitalization with the Delta variant and 88% effective against symptomatic infection. That finding was echoed last weekend by Canadian researchers, while a report from Israel suggested protection against mild Delta infection may have dipped lower, to 64%.
Whether the fully vaccinated still need to wear masks in places where the Delta variant is surging is a growing question. In the U.S., the CDC maintains that fully vaccinated people dont need to. Even before the Delta variant came along, the vaccines werent perfect, but the best evidence suggests that if vaccinated people nonetheless get the coronavirus, theyll have much milder cases.
Let me emphasize, if you were vaccinated, you have a very high degree of protection, Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert, said Thursday.
In the U.S., case rates have been rising for weeks and the rate of hospitalizations has started to tick up, rising 7% from the previous seven-day average, Walensky told reporters Thursday. However, deaths remain down on average, which some experts believe is at least partly due to high vaccination rates in people 65 and older who are among the most susceptible to severe disease.
Associated Press writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this story. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
One of the main factors driving differences in COVID-19 vaccination rates across the country is partisanship. Our surveys consistently find that Democrats are much more likely to report having been vaccinated than Republicans, and Republicans are much more likely to say that they definitely do not want to get vaccinated. In May, just as vaccine supply was starting to outstrip demand, we examined average vaccination rates by county and found that rates were lower in counties that voted for Trump in the 2020 Presidential election compared to those that voted for Biden. Now, two months later, we find that not only does this remain the case, the gap has grown.
We obtained data on the share of the population fully vaccinated by county from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC)COVID-19 Integrated County View and data on the 2020 Presidential election results by county from here (for more detailed methods, see: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/vaccination-is-local-covid-19-vaccination-rates-vary-by-county-and-key-characteristics/). To create a longer time series, we also looked at vaccination rates in April 2021.
While the share of the total population that is fully vaccinated has increased for both county groups, it has increased faster in counties that voted for Biden, resulting in a widening gap. Three months ago, as of April 22, the average vaccination rate in counties that voted for Trump was 20.6% compared to 22.8% in Biden counties, yielding a relatively small gap of 2.2 percentage points. By May 11, the gap had increased to 6.5% and by July 6, 11.7%, with the average vaccination rate in Trump counties at 35% compared to 46.7% in Biden counties. See Figures 1 and 2.
Although there has been an overall significant slow-down in COVID-19 vaccination rates in the U.S., these findings show a widening divide of communities at risk for COVID-19 along partisan lines. A key component of any effort to boost vaccination rates among Republicans will be identifying the right messengers. According to our Vaccine Monitor, which tracks the publics attitudes and experiences with COVID-19 vaccinations, Republicans are most likely to trust their doctors and employers to provide reliable information on COVID-19 vaccines, while government sources are less trusted. Going forward, efforts that focus on these messengers, including President Bidens recent announcement to augment vaccination distribution through doctors offices, may help, but there is a hardcore group of vaccine resisters who are disproportionately Republican and will be difficult to move.
Ohio State will offer $50,000 in gift cards, football tickets and parking passes to Buckeyes who have been vaccinated starting the week of Aug. 2. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Ohio State will now offer incentives for students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated in hopes of exceeding a 65 percent vaccination rate before the fall semester begins, University President Kristina M. Johnson announced in a universitywide email Friday.
The university will award $50,000 in gift cards, football tickets and parking passes to Buckeyes who have been vaccinated and reported it to the university starting Aug. 2, according to the email. The prizes will be awarded through a random weekly drawing.
Dont wait: The sooner you are vaccinated, the sooner you will enjoy the protections of the vaccines and the opportunity to win prizes for doing so, Johnson said in the email.
Individuals who are not yet vaccinated can learn more about vaccination sites on the Safe and Healthy Buckeyes website.
Eligibility for these prizes will require students to report their vaccination status to the university through My BuckMD, Johnson said. The university will share more information about entering and contest rules before the first drawing.
Melissa Shivers, senior vice president for Student Life, said June 2 the university will consider removing COVID-19 guidelines if it reaches the target 70-80 percent vaccination rate and aligns with Ohio Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.
Ohio State is not requiring students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated but encourages it, Shivers said.
According to the Wexner Medical Centers website, Ohio State administers vaccines at four locations Same-Day Care Outpatient Care East facility, Outpatient Care facility in Upper Arlington, University Health McCampbell Outpatient Care and Jesse Owens North Recreation Center either through walk-ins or by appointment.
Individuals can schedule vaccine appointments on the MyChart website.
ATLANTA (KNWA/KFTA) In April, more than half of adolescents and parents of adolescents reported they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released on Friday, July 9.
The report states it is important to communicate the benefits and safety of the vaccine.
Efforts focusing on clearly communicating to the public the benefits and safety of COVID-19 vaccination for adolescents, particularly by health care professionals, could help increase confidence in adolescent COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination coverage, the CDC stated.
On May 10, 2021, Pfizer-BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for adolescents from 12 to 15 years of age.
The MMWR reports that parents of unvaccinated adolescents and unvaccinated adolescents reported feeling most comfortable with vaccination occurring at the adolescents usual doctors office or clinic, 66.6%, and 76.5%, respectively.
The nonprobability-based surveys, done prior to the expanded availability of the vaccine, showed approximately one half of unvaccinated adolescents and parents of unvaccinated adolescents reported not intending for or being uncertain about whether the adolescent would receive a COVID-19 vaccination, according to the report. Those with lower vaccine intentions were female parents, lower educational attainment, and residents of Midwest of South Census regions.
As of July 6, approximately 8.3 million adolescents, 12-17 years of age, had received one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the CDC.
Governor Asa Hutchinson will hold COVID Community Conversations in Batesville, Blytheville, the Forrest City/Marianna area, and Texarkana.In Arkansas, we have chosen the path of personal responsibility. The state is wide open. We arent mandating masks or vaccinations. We know what we must do, and for the most part, Arkansans have done the hard work. The big task before us now is to vaccinate more Arkansans, said Hutchinson.
Biden has spent several days this summer crisscrossing the southern United States pleading with Americans to get their shots. It remains an open question if they're listening.
"We have to do everything we can do," Biden said.
In Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday -- a state with just 37% of its population fully vaccinated, Biden visited a vaccination clinic at a local high school as part of a push to get students their shots before the start of the school year. When she is there, there are only three people in the school's cafeteria, which has been turned into a makeshift clinic -- the draw of the first lady of the United States not enough to muster even double digits.
Two of them are teenage girls with their mother, one is a middle-aged man who tells the first lady that some of his family members have gotten the shot, but some have not.
"Should I call them?" asks Biden, who doesn't appear to be joking.
Later, in the school's gymnasium, Biden tells a crowd of about 200 or so locals that earlier that morning at an exercise class near Washington, DC, the first lady was approached by a woman who told her she had lost four family members to Covid-19.
"She started to cry, telling me this story," said Biden, who went on to say the woman told her that the deaths inspired her to go out and personally get more than 140 people vaccinated.
"I think that's what each of us has to do," she said.
"That's just not enough!" she said in her speech Thursday, when noting the low numbers of vaccinated Georgians.
She knows she is now dealing mostly with Americans who see little point in getting the vaccine, ones who have already made up their minds not to get a shot.
"They're the ones thinking, 'Well, I haven't gotten sick so far,' or, 'It's not so serious,'" she told CNN in an interview Thursday, describing the mindset of many of the people she's trying to sway.
"As long as the Covid team asks me to go," she said when asked how much longer she will keep up her intense travel schedule of at least one trip per week to a state where vaccination numbers linger below the 40% mark. "Joe can't go that much, or too much, so I can go in his place," she added. "And what choice to we have?"
Biden knows what she is up against. States with below-average vaccination rates have almost triple the rate of new Covid-19 cases compared to states with above-average vaccination rates, according to new data from Johns Hopkins University.
As of Sunday, states with lower rates of vaccination reported an average of 6 new cases per 100,000 residents every day over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins.
States with higher vaccination rates reported an average of 2.2 new cases per 100,000 residents each day over the past week.
Biden has now logged thousands of air miles in the last month, visiting states most challenged by low vaccination rates. Measuring the impact of her visits -- which typically include a tour of a vaccination site and remarks telling people how safe and effective the vaccination is against Covid -- is not an exact science.
"We do check to see if the numbers [of vaccinations] go up after I've been somewhere," she said during Thursday's interview, though the metrics are not always calculable. "The [White House] Covid team circles back and we try to see the impact."
In short, no one really knows precisely whether the first lady's visits are working or not.
"At the end of the day, we can't take our foot off the gas," said Biden's press secretary Michael LaRosa, adding her travel will continue, with or without notable benchmarks or telling effectiveness in the wake of her trips. "She's an effective messenger, and she's going to keep up the travel."
Asked what exactly she hopes people will understand from her, Biden again goes back to the woman from the exercise class that morning, whose grief at losing four family members was clearly still on the first lady's mind.
"It was so sad, and I keep thinking about how upset she was," Biden said. "I want to make the point that people don't think they'll be affected. They think it won't happen to them, and then it does -- and then it's too late. I don't want them to take their health for granted."
Jim Justice, the Mountain State's governor, switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party in August 2017 -- announcing the move at a rally for Trump in the state."Today I will tell you as West Virginians, I can't help you anymore being a Democrat governor," Justice said at the rally. "So tomorrow, I will be changing my registration to Republican."
None of that would have predicted this: Justice has been one of the leading voices pushing for vaccinations of his citizens.
This isn't the first time that Justice has broken with his Party when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.
Back in February, Justice spoke out -- on CNN among other media outlets -- about his belief that Congress needed to "go big" with its coronavirus stimulus package. (West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's vote to pass the $1.9 trillion measure via budget reconciliation shortly after the Justice public prodding.)
The Point: Justice is way beyond political concerns at this point in his term -- and his life. Which allows him, at least in regard Covid-19 vaccinations, to simply do the right thing.
With three of the Treasure Valley's healthcare providers now requiring staff and employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, many are wondering if its legal.
BOISE, Idaho On Thursday, three of Idaho's biggest healthcare providers announced that they were going to begin requiring their employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Some claimed on social media that vaccine requirements for workers are illegal. However, in Idaho, they aren't.
In December, KTVB spoke with Dan Williams, a local lawyer who specializes in employment law, and he said a business can almost always require vaccinations for employees.
"Now, let's be clear what we're talking about, your boss can't hold you down while somebody shoots you with a vaccine, but as a condition of continued employment, employers can require vaccinations of their employees to maintain a safe workplace for themselves and for the public," Williams explained.
No law, on the state or federal level, can prevent companies from asking their employees to provide proof of vaccination. Asking for vaccination records isn't a violation of HIPPA either, since that only covers what a provider can share with others.
Employees may file for an exemption based on religious or medical conditions and are entitled to an accommodation, but only one that doesn't put any undue hardship on the employer.
However, in April, Idaho Governor Brad Little issued an executive order that would prevent local and state government entities from requiring "vaccine passports." The order would prevent agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles from forcing people to get vaccinated in order to renew their driver's license.
Idaho is an "employment at will" state, meaning that the employee/employer relationship can be terminated at any time, for any reason, unless there's already a law in place to prevent that from happening.
At KTVB, were focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus.
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Last fall, a tiny company no one had ever heard of was keeping Josh Corman up at night. It was one of the only groups in the world that made an ingredient that pharmaceutical companies like Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech needed to make the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. And it didnt employ a single cybersecurity expert.
Corman is a senior adviser to the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and for the past year, hes been working on a task force within the agency focused on protecting the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain from cyber threats. Healthcare organizations have been some of the biggest victims of growing waves of cyberattacks over the past few years, and during the pandemic, they were an even bigger target.
What worried Corman werent places like Pfizer and Moderna. Those big, name brand companies all employ in-house cybersecurity experts. He was worried about companies like the one making an mRNA ingredient: small, anonymous groups that made bits and pieces pivotal for vaccines, but that might not have ever thought theyd need to protect against a hacking campaign.
You could sneeze on that one company, and they would be disrupted. And if they were disrupted, wed be living in a very different world right now because they were so critical to those mRNA candidates, Corman says.
Over the past year, the task force tracked down hundreds of similar companies critical to the development, production, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the US. It offered to help them check for any gaps in their digital networks, give them resources to boost their preparedness, and help them respond to any incidents. A cyberattack on any of them could have slowed down the vaccine efforts, keeping shots out of reach for longer at great cost to the health of the country, Corman says. We wanted to make sure we had no delays because of cybersecurity.
The US approach to COVID-19 vaccine development ran through Operation Warp Speed a $10 billion project that involved partnerships between biomedical companies and various agencies within the federal government, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services. It funded the development of vaccine candidates at companies like Moderna and Johnson & Johnson and was in close contact with others involved in manufacturing and distribution.
Operation Warp Speed is generally described as being around the 30 biggest companies related to vaccines research, delivery, and all the way to shipping out to states, says Beau Woods, a senior adviser at CISA working on the COVID-19 task force.
CISA was one of the other federal agencies pulled into Operation Warp Speed. Its part of the Department of Homeland Security and is responsible for assisting both the government and the private sector on cybersecurity issues. Along with the COVID-19 response, it spent 2020 working on security for the presidential election.
During Operation Warp Speed, CISA was asked to help with security for the main 30 players. CISA has the ability to deliver protective, preventative, and response services to designated critical infrastructure. Anyone on that list was obviously prioritized, Corman says.
But there were more companies involved with the vaccine development, production, and distribution process than just the ones on that list. Each of those 30 or so companies have their own supply chains, Woods says. The groups that made up those supply chains would need protection as well.
When Corman started working on COVID-19 response efforts as part of the task force within CISA, those companies hadnt been identified yet. No one knew who they were. I asked, what are those smaller, less obvious players that, if theyre disrupted, means theres no vaccine? And no one had an answer, Corman says.
Corman worked with colleagues like Michelle Holko, a presidential innovation fellow who worked with the task force, and Reuven Pasternak, another CISA senior adviser whos also a physician, to develop a rubric that would help them identify those players. They looked for companies making products that were in short supply or couldnt be easily replaced and companies making products that the groups making vaccines were highly dependent on. The group asked international partners to send them the names of any groups that could be important to the vaccine development process as well.
We identified people who were never nominated at all, but bubbled up right to the top. Those were some of the most critically important weak links in the chain, Corman says.
The list was dynamic at the start of the process, it focused on groups involved in vaccine research and development. Then it shifted to companies working with the manufacturing and distribution of the shots. Overall, the group identified hundreds of companies involved in the process that could have been risks.
A lot of them are smaller. In some cases, theyd have fewer than 100 people, and may not have traditionally looked at cybersecurity threats, Woods says. Because they were involved in the vaccine process, they were targets for hackers, but they didnt have the know-how to protect against threats. Thats where we focused, he says.
After making that list of companies that could be potential targets for cyberattacks, the task force started reaching out to each one to offer its services. A big part of those early conversations involved making sure companies understood that the group wasnt a regulatory body but was just coming in to offer a service, says Steve Luczynski, the lead of the CISA COVID-19 task force. Everybodys concerned when the governments calling, he says.
But after they heard what the group was offering help understanding any vulnerabilities, alerts about possible threats, and other guidance many companies were eager to use their resources, Woods says. In a few cases, weve had the organizations come back and say, Hey we saw something, we think we got to it in time but wed love for you guys to just double check, he says.
Health IT and electronic health records company Cerner was one of the groups that worked with the CISA and the task force. Cerner assisted with scheduling, inventory, and dose tracking for organizations administering vaccines, and its electronic health records had data on people receiving the shots. Kevin Hutchison, Cerners cybersecurity operations manager, had initially signed the company up for security alerts with CISA. The CISA task force then got in touch about participating in their other programs. Given the footprint of Cerner, they were really excited to have us on board, Hutchison told The Verge.
The CISA team took a look at Cerners existing security protocols, which were already strong. It was a good pat on the back that we were doing things that we should be, Hutchison says.
Cerner also regularly meets with around a dozen of the largest hospital systems that use its services to talk about security, and a handful of those groups were also using CISAs services. Many hospitals dont have the funding for a dedicated security team. They had mentioned how valuable it had been for them, Hutchison says.
The task force was able to offer services like scanning company systems for cybersecurity vulnerabilities and custom cyberintelligence tools, Woods says. But one of the most important parts of outreach was just creating a relationship with the company so that CISA was able to quickly relay any important information. Part of it is just working out that trust, so that when they pick up the phone, they know who you are, he says.
Through those relationships, the task force and CISA helped companies respond to cyber threats over the course of the past year. Threats included a phishing campaign aimed at the cold chain vaccine transport system and the SolarWinds hack, which targeted US government agencies. None had major impacts on the vaccine development and distribution process. We had these good connections. We knew that this is the person to call, and heres the email to send to, when these events happen, Luczynski says.
Those connections could carry through into the future and help healthcare organizations manage cybersecurity threats. I am happy to see greater engagement between CISA and healthcare, and I definitely hope that continues, Woods says.
The work the task force did on the vaccine supply chain could also be a model for other projects in the future, he says. A lot of times when the government works with the private sector, theyre most engaged with larger organizations because they dont have connections with the smaller ones, Woods says. This work showed that, many times, the riskiest areas are actually those smaller organizations.
So far, the COVID-19 vaccine development and distribution process hasnt been delayed by any cyberattacks. Luczynski says the task force cant take all the credit its hard to say definitively if its work was the reason there werent major issues. But he thinks it made a difference. I am confident we contributed to making things better.
Correction: We incorrectly spelled Kevin Hutchisons last name in our original version of this article, which has one n, not two. We regret the error.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will ask the government to approve a resolution to establish a team to consider the establishment of a coronavirus vaccine plant in Israel, the Prime Ministers Office announced on Friday.
"We are working around the clock in a variety of ways to protect the health of the citizens of Israel, Bennett said. The ability to self-produce vaccines in Israel could be dramatic, especially with a forward-looking view of future epidemics. Professional teams will examine this and make a decision soon.
The announcement was made in collaboration with Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz.
The team would be headed by the accountant general of the Finance Ministry and it would conduct an orderly procedure and consult with relevant professionals in order to formulate the best way to establish the plant, the announcement said.
If established, the plant would be required to produce a variety of medications, while prioritizing vaccines, with an eye toward regular commercial activities.
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At the same time, the plant would have the ability to adapt its activities to produce vaccines during emergencies, ideally using a variety of technologies.
Back in March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Austrias Sebastian Kurz and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced during a visit to Israel an agreement between their countries to set up a research and development fund and manufacturing plants for coronavirus vaccines in Israel and Europe.
We will be, together, Vaccination Nations, Netanyahu said of the deal at that time. We agreed that if other nations want to join us, we will discuss this among ourselves and welcome others to come in as well.
Netanyahu long discussed establishing a vaccine production plant in Israel, potentially with Pfizer or Moderna, or an independent facility that would make the Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) COVID-19 vaccine a vaccine that is still stalled on its Phase II trial.
In May, Pfizer confirmed for The Jerusalem Post that the company had no plans to open such a plant nor a research and development facility that Netanyahu described in Israel.
Ive checked internally and confirmed that we do not have plans for this, a senior manager for corporate communications said. It sounds like the talk around it has been coming from local politicians.
However, Yeruham Mayor Tal Ohana said that even before coronavirus there was hope to establish a vaccine plant like the one described by Bennett in her town.
In August 2020, when IIBR launched its Phase I trial for its coronavirus vaccine, Netanyahu asked the institute to start setting up a production plant at the same time. To date, there has been little or no progress on such a plant, although according to Ohana the Defense Ministry and other commercial partners potentially involved in such a plant had been to the city multiple times.
Today, Israel is completely dependent on external intellectual property and external manufacturing capacity, BiondVax CEO Amir Reichman told the Post in a previous interview.
BiondVax is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and ultimately commercializing products for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and related illnesses, its website described. The company is traded on Nasdaq.
With this pandemic, we were lucky because early in the pandemic we contracted and secured vaccine deliveries, Reichman said, though he noted that in a future pandemic, Israel might not be so lucky. It is important for Israel to have both the IP (intellectual property) and the capacity to manufacture vaccines.
