Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva to distribute COVID-19 vaccine in Jewish state
'The company is set to begin distributing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines within the next few weeks'
Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva has signed an exclusive agreement with the Jewish state to distribute COVID-19 vaccines in Israel, financial daily Globes reported on Sunday .
The drug firm said it could, however, seek partners to help it implement the national immunization program.
"The company is set to begin distributing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines within the next few weeks," Teva CEO Yossi Ofek told the newspaper.
"We are awaiting the green light and the reception within a few weeks of millions of vaccines."
"Israel will be the first country, after the United States," he continued, "to carry out a vaccination campaign for a large part of the population, even before Great Britain."
"In our laboratories in Shoham and Kfar Saba, we have installed freezers able to preserve Pfizer's vaccines at minus 70 °C, and in a few weeks we will be able to store three million doses at this temperature."
"Moderna's vaccine requires a lower temperature and we are ready to collect them today," he added.
The vaccines will then be sent to different medical facilities, nursing homes and other institutions in order to avoid the population of long journeys to be vaccinated, Globes reported.