Noel Berkowitz volunteered to participate in the first phase of the Israeli vaccine trial next week • "I see how many people suffer from the condition, and this is one of the reasons I volunteered"
Preparations for the start of the Israeli corona vaccine trial are at their peak.
Four of the experimenters arrived yesterday (Thursday) for final tests, blood tests and antibody tests, at the Clinical Research Unit at Sheba Hospital.
One of them will be the one who gets the vaccine first, on Sunday morning.
A similar process took place at Hadassah Hospital.
The Biological Institute in Ness Ziona will begin conducting experiments on humans // Photo: Tal Oz / Ministry of Defense
Noel Berkowitz (39), an electronics engineer at a high-tech company, is one of the volunteers who is expected to receive the "Relief" vaccine next week and participate in its first phase.
"I saw Sheba's advertising looking for experimenters and I volunteered," he says.
"I know it's dangerous and there can be side effects, but I'm not afraid. I prefer to be a pioneer and work to promote a solution to the crisis. I do not want to be part of someone who cries and complains but happy that I have the ability to take part in the solution. "But I see how many people suffer from the situation and the quarantine, and that's one of the reasons I volunteered."
Berkowitz is the father of a 3-year-old girl and another daughter will be born soon.
"My wife is a little apprehensive, both because of her pregnancy and because she's afraid that something might happen to me, but she also understands the purpose and is accommodating. There are some of my friends who say, 'What, are you crazy?'
But they also understand. "
Berkowitz finished reserve service on Thursday and on Sunday he will arrive for blood tests and antibody tests and then receive a green light to participate in the trial.
"Professional professionals at the Biological Institute already know the reactions from the animals. I'm not afraid. It's an advanced stage in the vaccine and not a stage where something random is injected."
The first experimenters will check the safety of the vaccine
One of the first two experimenters on Sunday will receive the vaccine and the other will receive a placebo vaccine.
After receiving the injection they will remain under observation for 24 hours in the hospital.
The purpose of the experiment at this stage is to test the safety of the vaccine.
Later this week it will be given to a number of more experimenters.
Over the next week, more pairs of experimenters will be invited to receive the treatment at both hospitals, with information on vaccine safety being collected throughout the period.
On Sunday, the first phase of the corona vaccine will begin, which will last a month and will cover 80 subjects in both hospitals.
Subjects will be randomly divided into two groups - half will receive the new vaccine and half will receive a placebo vaccine.
The purpose of the vaccine at this stage is to first examine the safety of the vaccine and make sure that it does not cause any side effects.
At the same time, the level of antibodies in the subjects' bodies will be measured, and it will be possible to know whether the vaccine actually affects the immune system and causes the production of antibodies to the corona virus.
The vaccine is supervised by a safety committee of 3 doctors and they are the only ones who receive the information which of the experimenters received a sham vaccine and which the real vaccine.
The committee members are the ones whose job it is to warn if side effects from the vaccine are discovered.
Along with monitoring the safety of the vaccine, there will also be regular monitoring of the levels of antibodies in the blood of the experimenters.
The immune system usually develops an immune response within days to two weeks, which peaks within 28 days.
The mass experiment phase - only in April-May
In the first phase, which will begin on Sunday, 80 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 will take part and it will take place in two hospitals: Sheba and Hadassah.
The second phase will begin in December 2020, and will include extensive safety inspections.
At this stage, 960 volunteers will participate in about eight hospitals in Israel.
During these stages, it will be tested whether the vaccine causes the production of antibodies.
The third phase will begin in April-May and will include 30,000 volunteers, at which time the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing infection in the corona will also be tested.
The Israeli vaccine is manufactured at the Biological Institute under the trade name BriLife.
To date, about 25,000 vaccine doses have been produced.
The vaccine developed by the Biological Institute is based on an existing virus called VSV, on which parts of the virus' protein envelope have been "engineered".
The vaccine has so far only been tested in the laboratory and on animals.
The Biological Institute notes that the vaccine elicited an effective immune response in both small animals (mice, hamsters and rabbits) and large animals (pigs).
The vaccine has been shown to be safe in the many tests and therefore the transition to clinical trials in humans is now possible.