The third and critical phase of the vaccine that the Biological Institute is developing, in which 30,000 experimenters will participate, will not be able to take place in Israel due to the beginning of the immunization of the population.
The vaccine is being developed at the Biological Institute in Ness Ziona // Photo: Ministry of Defense spokeswoman
The Biological Institute in Ness Ziona announced this week the successful completion of the first phase of the clinical trials of the corona pandemic vaccine, developed by the institute's scientists, and beyond the second phase, which will include several hundred experimenters from around the country.
The next and critical phase - the third phase - is expected to take place on about 30,000 testers and it will be the one that will ultimately determine the effectiveness of the vaccine.
However, the fact that Israel has already begun its own vaccination campaign may pose difficulties for further trials in Israel.
According to experts in the field, the more the population of Israel is vaccinated, the more difficult it will be to reach the level of exposure to the virus required to test the effectiveness of the vaccine.
In such a situation a significantly larger amount of experimenters and a longer period of examination will be needed.
At the same time the willingness of citizens to volunteer to participate in the vaccine trial will decrease, since there are already other proven vaccines on the market.
"In this situation, it seems that they will not be able to do the Phase 3 experiment in Israel," Prof. Amos Pent, a virologist in the Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine and a member of the biological institute's accompanying development committee, tells Israel Today.
"It will have to be done in another country where the morbidity is still widespread. In places like Africa or India for example."
In view of the delays and heavy costs, in recent weeks there have been increasing calls for a halt to the Israeli project.
Pant believes that despite the harsh criticism, it is still justified to continue: "There may be a need for several rounds of vaccines for corona, there may be more mutations of the virus, and therefore it is important that we have the knowledge and have immune independence."
The Biological Institute's response through a Defense Ministry spokeswoman: "The location of the third phase of the Biological Institute's vaccine is still being examined, along with the promotion of the second phase that has begun these days in hospitals across the country. So far no decisions have been made."
