Netanyahu: No logistical challenges distributing coronavirus vaccines

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require being stored at freezing temperatures between -20 and -70 degrees Celsius.

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein visit the Teva SLE Logistic Center, which is due to store and handle the vaccines against coronavirus under special conditions, November 26, 2020 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein visit the Teva SLE Logistic Center, which is due to store and handle the vaccines against coronavirus under special conditions, November 26, 2020
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the public on Thursday that Israel will have no challenges when it comes to storing, freezing or distributing coronavirus vaccines.
“We will have millions of [doses of] vaccines – enough that anyone who wants to vaccinate can do so more than once,” the prime minister said.
“We are on our way out of this virus," he said. "There is not just a light at the end of the tunnel, but a very large torch."
Netanyahu was speaking during a visit to the Teva SLE Logistic Center, which is due to store and handle the vaccines against coronavirus under special conditions.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both based on delicate messenger RNA, require being stored at freezing temperatures between negative 20 degrees and negative 70 degrees Celsius.
“From what we see here, we will have no logistical challenge storing, freezing or distributing these vaccines - this is very important,” Netanyahu said.
SLE was established in 1901 and has since become one of the leading players in the Israeli healthcare market. According to its website, the company opened its logistics center in 2011 in Shoham. It considers itself “one of the largest and most advanced logistic centers in the world for the storage and transportation of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment” and supplies one out of four prescriptions in Israel.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, who was also on the tour, said that the company has been working to ensure there was no shortage of “routine medications” during the pandemic, something which has been experienced by many countries worldwide.
But he and Netanyahu reminded the public that it will still be several months before a large quantity of vaccines arrives in Israel.
“We need you to keep cooperating,” Netanyahu said.
“Wear masks, social distance and keep the health regulations,” Edelstein added, “so that we can live a reasonable life alongside coronavirus.”
A special committee met this week to outline a plan for vaccine distribution, including who will be prioritized to receive the vaccines. That plan is supposed to be submitted to Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz next week.