Originally posted on Middle East Monitor, Dec. 2, 2020
Israel’s Hadassah Medical Centre is currently in talks with the UAE over the sale of 1.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for Palestine, Quds Press reported yesterday.
According to the news site, the Israeli public radio Kan, reported that the negotiations between the two sides related to the Russian vaccine.
Kan noted that the Israeli Ministry of Health has not yet approved the Russian vaccine and it is not expected to approve it in the near future.
It also said that the Ministry of Health had signed contracts with the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Arcturus to buy millions of doses of their coronavirus vaccine.
According to Kan, Israeli Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein said Tel Aviv is in continuous talks with other companies developing the vaccine.
Speaking to Kan, Edelstein said: “We are trying to make sure that all or most of the companies have contracts with Israel.”
The UAE and Israel reached a normalisation deal on 13 August and signed an official agreement on normalisation of ties on 15 September in Washington.
