Israel has rolled out the fastest Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the world, vaccinating nearly 20% of the population in three weeks. The small country – with a population of about nine million, about the same as New York City – is now aiming to inoculate the majority of its population by March.
While Israel’s vaccination campaign is relatively straightforward compared to the mass mobilization that countries like the US require, where many more people are spread over a wider area, the effort offers some clear lessons.
Send smaller shipments of vaccine
The Pfizer Inc. BioNTech SE vaccine must be administered within five days of leaving the main storage center and within six hours of adding a diluent before extracting five to six doses from a vial.
To cope with that short shelf life and to reach less populated and isolated areas, Israel – with Pfizer’s approval – devised a system to split the company’s 1,000-dose packages into smaller batches of a few hundred each . Employees repack the bottles in workstations equipped with huge freezers.
Israel, like most other countries, prioritizes medical professionals, people over 60 and those at high risk as recipients of vaccines. But to make sure no vials are wasted, authorities also allow vaccine centers to hand out excess doses to anyone who shows up.