By Judah Ari Gross, Times of Israel—
Israel has begun mass-producing a potential coronavirus vaccine ahead of its human trials and plans to distribute it to both Israelis and Palestinians if it is approved for use, officials said Monday.
The Defense Ministry on Sunday announced that the first human trials of its coronavirus vaccine will begin on November 1 and continue through the spring before it can receive approval for full use.
“In six months, the vaccine will be ready. In the meantime, the institute is working on mass production, without knowing whether the vaccine is good or not, so that we don’t reach a situation that in July, when we receive approval from the Health Ministry, we’ll be held up by production,” Prof. Amos Panet, who is on the advisory board for the Israel Institute for Biological Research, told Army Radio.
The director of the state-run institute, Shmuel Shapira, said they will produce 15 million doses in the first stage and estimated the shot could be ready by July.
“We will prepare doses for very close neighbors,” he told the Ynet news site, later clarifying that he meant the Palestinians. Continue Reading….
