After blasting forward in the race to protect its population against the crown virus, Israel has reached an agreement with Pfizer, promising to share vast sources of medical data with the international drug giant trading in the ongoing stream of the hard-to-get vaccine.
Supporters say the agreement could allow Israel to become the first country to receive the majority of its population, while at the same time providing valuable scrutiny that the rest could of the world to help.
But critics say the agreement raises serious ethical concerns, including potential privacy breaches and the deepening of the global divide that allows rich countries to collect vaccines because poor numbers need , including Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, wait longer to be inoculated.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who is falling apart as Israel’s top vaccine ahead of the country’s elections in March – said earlier this month that he had reached an agreement with Pfizer’s chief executive to ensure the delivery of a vaccine. acceleration to Israel.
“Israel will be a global model state,” he said. “Israel shares with Pfizer and the entire world the statistical data that will help develop strategies to defeat the coronavirus.”
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein told The Associated Press that the government will turn in data to “see how it first affects the rate of disease in Israel, the ability to open the economy, various aspects of social life , and whether that has any effect on the vaccine ”.
The Pfizer vaccine, developed by German partner BioNTech, has received emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the EU regulatory body and is believed to provide up to 95-percent protection against COVID -19.
But much remains unknown, including whether it offers long-term protection and whether it can prevent the spread of the virus.
Israel, home to some 9.3 million people, is considered a unique place to study these issues. Universal mandatory health care is provided by four publicly funded HMOs with carefully digitized medical records.
This centralized system has helped Israel administer more than 2 million doses of the vaccine within a month. Israel has also purchased doses of the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
The inoculation blitz is a cause of national pride. He is also at the heart of Netanyahu’s reconsideration campaign as he seeks to distract from his ongoing corruption test, Israel’s deep economic crisis and the latest virus outbreak.
The Ministry of Health has recorded more than 551,000 cases since the outbreak began and more than 4,000 deaths. Israeli officials say they aim to vaccinate most of the country by the end of March, just around election day.
But the exact quid pro quo between Israel and Pfizer is unclear, even after a revised version of the agreement was released by the Israeli Ministry of Health on Sunday.
Neither Israel nor Pfizer would say what Israel paid for the vaccines, although Edelstein described it as a “classic win-win” for both sides. Israeli media have reported that Israel paid at least 50 percent more than other countries.
The data is shared with the World Health Organization, but the global organization did not respond to consistent requests for comment.
Effort with support from the DA
Earlier this month, the WHO leader appealed to drug dealers and wealthier countries to “suspend bilateral contracts,” saying they had hurt a DA-backed effort to increase access. expansion.
Tedros did not send out Adhanom Ghebreyesus any countries or companies.
Last week, Dr Siddhartha Datta, manager of the WHO Europe program for vaccine-resistant and immunosuppressive diseases, said the group was trying to collect “indistinguishable” data – based on age, sex , local area, employment and other factors – and reporting any safety. issues with how the vaccines are used.
Israel had already announced that they were receiving millions of doses of vaccine before the Pfizer contract was announced.
It is unclear how the size or speed of delivery has changed, or whether the vaccines have been diverted from other countries.
The settlement has drawn attention to the unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries.
A recent estimate from the International Rescue Committee stated that the WHO COVAX global campaign is likely to vaccinate just 20 percent of the world’s low-income countries by the end of 2021.
“This is a shady, subversive treaty that appeals to certain countries more than others without any clarity,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University in Washington.
“Ultimately, it’s going to be low- and middle-income countries that are going to be left behind.”
Palestinians withdrew from the vaccination campaign
Dr Nadav Davidovitch, head of the public health school at Ben Gurion University in Israel and adviser to the government on coronavirus policy, said the agreement has raised concerns about the profound difference in vaccination efforts.
“To eliminate COVID-19 or at least control it effectively, we need to see the global picture,” Davidovitch said.
That difference is particularly pronounced in the case of Israelis and Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who live under varying degrees of Israeli control and have not yet received vaccinations.
While they are vaccinating their own Arab citizens and Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem who are linked to Israel, Israel says it is not responsible for protecting the Palestinians. Edelstein said Israel would consider helping once it takes care of its own citizens.
But Palestinians and major human rights groups say Israel remains a resident power and it is up to them to vaccinate them. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh recently accused Israel of “racism” but has not publicly requested vaccinations.
With tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians working in Israel and the West Bank settlements, experts say Israel should share vaccines for ethical and practical reasons.
“I really think we need to see how we get the vaccine for the Palestinian Authority,” said Davidovitch, acting chairman of the Israeli public health professional association. “We are discussing it with the health minister. , and I hope that this is resolved soon. “
Contract ethics
It is also uncertain what information is being shared with Pfizer. Under the revised agreement, “identifiable health information” will not be shared, and the research is to be published in a reputable medical journal.
He said Israel will provide Pfizer with weekly data on various age and demographic groups. The aim, he said, is to “analyze epidemiological data arising from product dissemination, to determine whether herd immunity is achieved after reaching a percentage of vaccine coverage. in Israel ”.
The data, he said, “aim to help eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic for the benefit of all patients inside and outside Israel.”
Privacy Israel, an advocacy group that had petitioned the government to publish the agreement, welcomed its release but said certain questions remained unanswered, mostly about the handling and security of private information.
Specific details, such as key dates and names of officers involved, were also re-disclosed. However, he said there is “a little more certainty” about sharing information with a global corporation.
Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a digital privacy expert at the Israeli Institute for Democracy, questioned the ethics of a contract that could bring millions of profits to Pfizer.
She also said that sharing a lot of information could still endanger people’s privacy, even if it is anonymous.
“If God forbid, the data set is going to be slashed, the danger is going to be yours,” she said, speaking to Israeli citizens.