Fight to stop Israel’s extra Pfizer vaccines from being dumped

Australian health officials are noncommittal about making a bid for one million vaccines headed for the tip.

Israel may be set to turf as many as a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine that are due to expire at the end of the month after technical problems forced a deal to swap the jabs with the UK in exchange for further supplies due later this year fell through.

While the deal, which would have given England’s breakneck vaccination efforts a further boost as it readies itself to lift Covid restrictions later this months, was said to be at an advanced stage, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry announced this weekend that it had fallen through.

“There were discussions between Israel and the United Kingdom regarding the possibility of transmitting vaccines, but unfortunately, despite the will of both parties, for technical reasons, this did not succeed,” an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said.

An Israeli health worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine. Picture: Jack Guez/AFP

The collapse of the deal led to disappointment in Britain, and concerns that needy populations are missing out on vaccines that wind up being turfed because their effectiveness cannot be guaranteed past their expiry dates.

The World Health Organisation has said that Covid vaccines that have gone past their expiry dates should be retained, because further research is needed on whether they can be kept for longer.

“We really want to avoid a scenario where administrative hurdles … prevent vaccines from being used because there are clearly shortages throughout the world of these vaccines, and we can’t be throwing them away when people desperately need to receive them,” Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol and a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told the BBC.

Israel’s vaccine program has been seen as one of the great successes and good news stories of the pandemic.

People receive pizzas after getting doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine, at Clalit Health Services in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak. Picture: Jack Guwz/AFP

According to the Times of Israel, the country is seeing around 300 cases per day with concerns that the number may rise to 500 with the emergence of the Delta variant.

However, high vaccination rates appear to be keeping pressure off the local medical system, with 27 serious cases in hospital as of the end of last week.

Meanwhile in Australia, health officials were tight-lipped about whether Australia could take the opportunity to pick up the jabs given the bulk of the country’s Pfizer supplies aren’t due to come online until later this year.

A spokesman for the federal Health Department said: “The Australian Government continues to work to bring forwards our existing supplies.

That will see an additional 400,000 doses arrive in July ahead of schedule.

“Given the highly competitive international environment we do not identify or pre-empt specific international negotiations.”