On Monday, Israel called for proposals on how to construct its own internal vaccine manufacturing plant. The Finance Ministry issued an Approach To Market request, or AtM and said, “Up until now, Israel has been entirely dependent on importing vaccines made in other countries. The ability to develop, manufacture and license vaccines in Israel is of the utmost importance in order to confront familiar pathogens and/or unfamiliar pathogens that might severely harm the Israeli public health and economy.”

With Israel purchasing so many Covid-19 vaccines, and often, at inflated prices, the country has developed a desire to explore more cost-efficient alternatives.

The Prime Minister’s Office, as well as other governmental offices, asked the Health Ministry to distribute the AtM. The decision to do so was based on an earlier decision made by Naftali Bennett’s government shortly after the new Prime Minister took office in July.
Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also called for a vaccine manufacturing facility to be built but the project was not advanced during his tenure.

The AtM is a precursor to a call for tenders, hence it is an information-gathering tool and not a request for proposals. The country will receive the responses from the request of the Atm following which they are expected to make a decision regarding future actions taken by the country to safeguard its citizens against any future pandemic, as much as possible.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)