Israel: Pfizer Halts Delivery of Biontech Vaccine – Describing the Country as the ‘Banana Republic’

In terms of vaccination strategy, Israel has long been considered a show country. But it is now said that the vaccine doses have not been paid for, according to an Israeli newspaper.

Jerusalem – Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has stopped delivering the Biontech vaccine to Israel. The reason for this is an outstanding bill for 2.5 million cans. Israeli newspaper reports The Jerusalem Post.

Senior officials in the group expressed in the newspaper their concern that the interim Israeli government would not pay the amount due. The company did not want to be exploited and could not understand how an organized country would behave. Israeli radio station Army Radio Pfizer even called Israel a “banana republic.”

Israel is a “banana republic”? Pharmaceutical company Pfizer criticizes failure to make payments

Delivery of 700,000 packages that were supposed to arrive in Israel on Sunday has been postponed until further notice. Pfizer said that The Jerusalem PostThe company completed all deliveries as originally agreed. “The company is currently working with the Israeli government to renew the agreement,” the group wrote in a statement, and an additional vaccine could be delivered to the country. “While this continues, deliveries can be adjusted.”

The Israeli Health Minister refused to take a position on the newspaper’s request. According to the newspaper’s report, the first 10 million vaccine doses were received on time. When the vaccine ran out in February, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an additional agreement with Pfizer CEO Albert Burla to supply the country with additional doses.

However, funds were never supposed to flow in to purchase the agreed additional 2.5 million boxes. So far, the country has spent about 2.6 billion shekels on the vaccine, or about 665 million euros. The Knesset announced this in March. Israel is believed to have paid much more per dose than any other country in the world. (fmü)

Rubriklistenbild: © Ronen Zvulun / dpa