Israel has published the agreement it signed with Pfizer on January 6. The agreement is called, "The Real World Epidemiological Evidence Collaboration Agreement," in which Pfizer promises to provide Israel with enough vaccine to inoculate the entire adult population that can be vaccinated, as quickly as Israel can succeed in using the doses. See the agreement here
In exchange for giving priority to Israel over other countries, for some of the consignments, Israel will provide Pfizer with epidemiological data that will allow the pharmaceutical company to more swiftly evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine. Pfizer commits to providing, "a product delivery rate to allow maintaining a vaccination rate sufficient to achieving herd immunity and enough data as soon as possible."
Many in the country asked exactly what medical data Pfizer would be receiving and what it would be used for, and there were major concerns that it might involve a breach of confidentiality. There were also suggestions that not disclosing the details of the agreement showed a lack of transparency. Some Ministry of Health sources had said that it was only providing information that was available to all Israelis but then why would Pfizer need an agreement for such a deal.
The agreement does not precisely detail what data Pfizer is getting, but simply describes it as serving "research targets," although from this definition, it is possible to speculate about what data will be provided to achieve these targets.
Research targets are: the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, the number of people hospitalized, the number of serious cases, the number of people on ventilators, the number of fatalities, the number of people with symptoms, the number of people vaccinated according to age and other (not detailed) population segments, and the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 according to population segments. Pfizer and Israel's Ministry of Health will also try to analyze the medical costs saved by the national vaccination drive.
The agreement also states that Israel can provide Pfizer with, "Additional analyses about population segments, and efficacy of the vaccine with the consent of the two parties." On the face of it, this clause could allow the transfer of epidemiological data with more details about population segments, although it is not explicitly stated, at least not in the official agreement.
However, the agreement does explicitly state that any data provided by Israel to Pfizer must comply with the Israel Privacy Protection Law 1981, while Pfizer cannot use the data for any purposes other than improving public health, or in any way that allows discrimination by insurance companies, or employers. Pfizer cannot expose any individual patient or allow any third party to do so.
The agreement says that Pfizer and Israel's Ministry of Health will discuss data on a weekly basis and decide how to continue to move forward, report on the impact on Israel's population and update on the pace of new vaccine doses to be provided. Israel will have access to top Pfizer experts for consultation and articles will be prepared for publication in leading medical journals.
Full sections are censored
Many sections of the agreement are either blacked out or left blank, including the original date of the first agreement between Israel and Pfizer. The entire section on liability is also blacked out as are the names of some of the signatories.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 17, 2021
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021