Israeli Government Mysteriously Loses Pfizer Vaccine Agreement That Promised to Share Population’s Data

An Israeli nurse receives a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, on Dec. 27, 2021. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

The government of Israel has admitted in court that it has failed to locate its COVID-19 vaccine agreement with Pfizer despite an extensive search.

In 2020, Israel secured vaccines from Pfizer on a priority basis, promising to provide epidemiological data of its citizens in exchange. In a petition pending at the Jerusalem District Court, the Israeli Ministry of Health (MoH) claimed to have lost the agreement and also raised doubts about whether the agreement was even signed by the parties involved.

“We have not found a signed agreement,” lawyer Ahava Berman of the prosecutor’s office said in the court on behalf of the Ministry of Health, according to i24. “We searched all places, including the CEO’s office and the legal department.”

The agreement was made public in January last year. The ministry published the redacted agreement due to rising criticism about the terms involved in the data transfer. Many of the statements were hidden.

The agreement had also left spaces for signatures from the Health Ministry Director General as well as an executive from Pfizer whose name was blacked out. According to the agreement, MoH would provide data to Pfizer to the extent that such data does not reveal an individual’s identity.

In case identifiable data is disclosed to the company by accident, Pfizer is obligated to return and delete such data. The firm also committed to use the data solely for public health purposes and agreed not to use it in any discriminatory manner.

Israel ‘Sort of a Laboratory’

In September last year, Philip Dormitzer, the chief scientific officer at Pfizer, told a Zoom gathering of academics that Israel was “sort of a laboratory” where the company could see the effects of its COVID-19 vaccine, reported The Times of Israel.

Israel “immunized a very high proportion of the population very early—so it’s been a way that we can almost look ahead: What we see happening in Israel happens again in the U.S. a couple months later,” he said at the time.

In the agreement between the two parties, MoH committed to transfer data about confirmed COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, severe cases, ventilator use, deaths, and symptomatic cases on a weekly basis. In addition, the number of cases per week by age group and other demographic factors were also to be included.

Over six million people are estimated to have received doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines in Israel. The country has registered more than 4.74 million COVID-19 infections as of Dec. 18, with 11,954 deaths. There are currently around 12,500 cases in mild condition and 57 cases in a serious or critical condition.

Vaccine Health Complications

A study conducted in Israel has since reported a heightened risk of developing myocarditis among young males who took Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines. Myocarditis refers to an inflammation in the heart muscle myocardium, which can end up reducing the blood-pumping ability of the organ.

The study found that the risk of developing myocarditis among men between the ages of 16 and 19 were 1 in 15,000 after the third dose of Pfizer vaccine, according to a Sept. 6 news release by the American Heart Association.

Estimates put the number of people usually affected by myocarditis every year at around 10 to 20 per 100,000. The study found that the risk rate of myocarditis was nine times higher among males between 16 and 19 years of age who took a booster vaccine when compared to females.

“The incidence rate of myocarditis was low, however, it was primarily in young males after a second COVID-19 vaccination, suggesting a potential relationship between the vaccine and myocarditis. The results raised concerns about the potential for increased myocarditis after a booster dose,” according to the release.