At the end of Israel’s coronavirus cabinet meeting on Monday evening, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ spoke about the recent reports regarding vaccines.

Netanyahu mentioned the “excellent news about Moderna” and the agreement Israel signed with Pfizer and added that he is also working on purchasing vaccines from other sources.

“I recently spoke with Russian President Putin about the possibility of acquiring the Sputnik 5 vaccine,” Netanyahu said on Monday at a press conference. “We will discuss this in the coming days.”

A Kremlin press release confirmed the conversation between Putin and Netanyahu on Monday, stating that the conversation centered on “cooperation on the Russian vaccine, including its possible supply to and organization of production in Israel.”

According to reports, Israel only pre-ordered one-two million vaccine doses from Moderna and the Pfizer agreement calls for Israel to purchase eight million vaccine doses, which is enough for only four million Israel since each person requires two doses of the vaccine. Therefore, Netanyahu is casting his net further to purchase additional vaccines to acquire enough doses for all Israelis.

However, Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel is negotiating with Moderna regarding purchasing additional vaccine doses, Ynet reported. “We have signed a supply agreement with them to a certain extent, and we are negotiating with them over additional supplies,” Netanyahu said.

“I must tell you that their CEO was very friendly,” he said, in a reference to Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel. “My policy is to bring as many vaccines as possible from as many sources as possible to as many citizens as possible in as little time as possible.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)