Israel’s Rambam Hospital Joins Efforts to Develop Israeli COVID-19 Vaccine

Israel’s Rambam Hospital Joins Efforts to Develop Israeli COVID-19 Vaccine: Israel currently has the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the world, and the vast majority of Rambam’s approximately 5,300 employees have already received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Earlier this month, the Clinical Trials Unit at Rambam Health Care Campus (in Rambam’s Research & Development Unit), headed by Dr. Avivit Peer, joined a group of hospitals and institutions taking part in what is defined as “Phase 2” of the Israel Institute for Biological Research’s COVID-19 vaccine development.

The vaccine has been given to dozens of volunteers in the past days. A spokesperson from Israel’s Ministry of Defense noted that, “the second phase of the trial will include broad safety tests on approximately 1,000 healthy volunteers aged 18 and over. This phase is meant to complete the safety tests, identity the precise doses needed, and continue to test for effectiveness. It will last for several months, and its success will allow a large-scale trial to test the effectiveness of the vaccine on a larger scale, with the participation of up to 30,000 volunteers (Phase 3) in Israel and/or abroad.”

Dr. Peer added, “Rambam is participating in this research group for the development of an Israeli vaccine with healthy volunteers. We are very proud that our unit, which has been operating for two years in the field of drug development research with a focus on new vaccines, has joined the cause for better health for the entire population.”

Volunteers living in Israel who are interested in registering for the vaccine at the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona are invited to contact the research coordinators.

About Rambam Health Care Campus
Established in 1938, Rambam Health Care Campus is a 1,000-bed world-class teaching hospital with a diverse patient population. The only tertiary referral medical center serving the two million residents of Northern Israel, Rambam also treats patients referred from throughout Israel, the Mediterranean region, and around the world.

Haifa, Israel, January 27, 2020