Vaccines for variants were opened with Israel

Austria and Denmark have announced that they intend to cooperate with Israel in order to develop new vaccines that can best cope with the new variants that are being discovered for the corona virus. The announcement by the two countries comes days before the visit of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Danish Prime Minister Mate Fredriksen to Israel.

The two leaders will arrive in Israel on Thursday, and will be impressed during it by the Israeli vaccination campaign, which is praised worldwide for its rapid pace of progress. The visit is called a “vaccine summit” in Israel, and according to sources in Israel, Kurtz and Fredriksen will discuss with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the establishment of an “international vaccine production corporation.” Netanyahu has already discussed this with Bahrain’s heir, Prince Salman bin Hemed, and with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonero.

The decision of Austria and Denmark to cooperate with Israel in the development of vaccines is a blow to European cooperation in the field, with so far the 27 member states agreeing to jointly manage their vaccination campaign. But for a long time this operation has been conducted lazily, partly due to supply difficulties from vaccine manufacturers, and more and more European countries are criticizing the conduct of officials in Brussels.

Kurtz said today that although in principle the joint vaccination operation of the Union is not wrong, the conduct of Brussels was too slow, partly due to a delay in the granting of approval for the use of vaccines by the European Medicines Agency. He added that now Austria must not rely solely on the EU in the field of vaccines.

“We must prepare for new mutations and we must not depend solely on the European Union in the production of second-generation vaccines,” he said in a statement. According to him, health experts explained that in the coming years, as part of the fight against these new variants, the Austrian government will probably be required to vaccinate two-thirds of the population each year – that is, about six million people. To date, Austria has vaccinated only about 5.5% of its population.

In Chancellor Kurtz’s announcement today, he noted that his country and Denmark will work with Israel not only to develop vaccines for variants, but also to collaborate in the study of innovative treatment methods for coronary heart disease.

Criticism of the conduct of the European vaccination campaign was also voiced by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Frederiksen. “I do not think he can stand alone, because we need more capacity,” she told reporters yesterday. “This is the reason why we are now lucky enough to cooperate with Israel.” Asked if in their joint decision Denmark and Austria are taking unilateral action to obtain vaccines, she replied: “You can call it that.”

Fear of the variants of the virus was also voiced yesterday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the ministerial meeting at which it was decided to proceed as planned with the opening of the economy, despite signs of a renewed rise in morbidity. Netanyahu said that “no one knows” the validity of the current vaccines, and that it may be necessary to provide additional injections to vaccinators. Because of this, he said, he is working to bring another 36 million vaccines to Israel.

Netanyahu said: “We registered a six-month validity in the green passport, and maybe it will be a year, we hope more. We need to prepare for the worst-case scenario – that we will have to vaccinate nine million citizens every two months with two vaccines, “In the coming year. If we do not do this, and the vaccine expires, everything will return – morbidity, death and closures.”

The Prime Minister added that Israel is currently discussing with Pfizer research and development of vaccines. “This is a very important task to make Israel an independent vaccine power that can produce vaccines for itself and others,” he said last night. Pfizer CEO Albert Burla is due to arrive in Israel next week to discuss the issue of vaccines. Netanyahu is also discussing with the CEO of a modern company the establishment of a regional vaccine plant in Israel.

Austria and Denmark are not the only countries that are “breaking lines” from the European vaccine partnership. A growing number of countries have already ordered vaccines independently from China and Russia, although the European Medicines Agency has not yet given them permission to use or determined that they are safe to use.

Slovakia yesterday ordered 2 million doses of the Russian vaccine, “Sputnik V”. She expects these doses to reach her as early as this month, in order to increase the rate of vaccines in her territory and against the background of a spike in morbidity and mortality from the virus. Its neighbor, the Czech Republic, is currently facing the worst outbreak of the virus in EU territory, and is also considering ordering the Russian vaccine.

In Hungary, the vaccine of the Chinese company Sinopharm is being used, and in an attempt to allay the concerns of its citizens, Prime Minister Victor Urban himself received this vaccine on Sunday. Urban called on Brussels to make use of Chinese and Russian vaccines as well, saying there was no room for geopolitical considerations in health care.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to extend the closure in the country until March 28. This emerges from a draft decision that reached the Reuters news agency. According to the draft, despite the extension of the closure next week, some relief is expected in Germany. Merkel will discuss these issues today with the heads of Germany’s 16 provinces.

According to the draft on March 8, gatherings of up to five people from two different households are allowed, with children under 14 not being counted. The guidelines now allow a meeting of up to two people under certain conditions. It is also stated in the draft that next week flower and book stores, beauty salons, tattoo parlors and spas will also be able to open their gates. Yesterday, barbershops were already allowed to open under strict hygiene rules, after about two and a half months in which they were closed in Germany. According to the draft, the Germans are called to refrain from traveling in and out of Germany ahead of Easter, although it states that limited visits to relatives are allowed during the holiday.

While in Germany the extension of restrictions is being discussed, in Turkey some of the schools and restaurants have reopened today. Last night, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the lifting of the closure on weekends from cities with a low to moderate risk of infection. The closure in cities where the level of risk is high will be reduced over the weekend only to Sundays, as part of what Erdogan called “controlled normalization.”

The reliefs in Turkey are being done despite a renewed rise in morbidity. Yesterday, 9,891 new infections were reported there, the highest daily number since January 11 and a jump from the 8,424 infections diagnosed the day before. “The number of cases of variants of the virus is constantly rising. We do not see conditions that allow a return to the old routine,” the Turkish Medical Association said. “Political and economic considerations cannot take precedence over human life and science.”