The company’s original vaccine, the first vaccine available against COVID-19, has been updated to combat the now dominant Omicron variant and will be discussed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday. “We have already started production and doses have already been produced,” Burla told Channel 12 News, adding that the vaccines will be ready for shipment and use after approval. Burla won the Genesis Award for his success in leading Pfizer in vaccine production. The award honors individuals who are an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through their outstanding professional success and their commitment to Jewish values and the Jewish people. Burla expressed pride in his Jewish heritage. “I had tears in my eyes,” he told Channel 12 for the first time in 40 years. Get the Times of Israel Daily E-mail and never miss our top stories By registering, you agree to the terms Almost two weeks ago, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, along with the Moderna vaccine, was approved by the FDA for use in children up to six months of age, in a decision that was not immediately followed by Israel, which generally remained ahead of the curve. approval of shots and amplifiers. A plaque for the Food and Drug Administration appears in Silver Spring, Maryland, on December 10, 2020. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta) Israel was among the first countries to start using the original Pfizer vaccine in December 2020 and has repeatedly approved booster vaccines before other countries. Burla supported the FDA decision, telling Channel 12 that “it would give [the vaccine] now “to his young child if he were a parent. Bourla’s visit came after Pfizer announced on Saturday that its latest COVID-19 vaccine for better targeting of the Omicron variant was safe and effective – just days before US regulators discussed whether to offer Americans up-to-date reinforcements. autumn. Preliminary laboratory results also show that the vaccine was effective against the distinct subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 of Omicron, although antibody levels were not as high. The variants are responsible for the sixth wave of infections in Israel, where cases are rising daily to 10,000 a day last week and more than 250 serious cases. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 10,940 people have died in Israel from the virus. The revised vaccine took seven months to develop, but Bourla told Channel 12 that he believed updating shots for new variants could take three months, or even less, now that the company had the know-how. The speed with which a vaccine can circulate is the key, as well as the longevity of its effectiveness, due to the threat of the virus mutating every few months, leading to new waves of infection. This May 2022 photo provided by Pfizer shows the production of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 for children under 5 in Puurs, Belgium. U.S. regulators approved the first COVID-19 vaccines for infants and preschoolers on June 17, paving the way for vaccinations to begin next week. (Pfizer via AP) Burla dismissed the idea that a new vaccine would be needed for each mutation, and said the company would work to produce vaccines more efficiently. “Let’s not forget that we already had 14 different variants and we were able to protect ourselves [against] the previous ones very well. “This is the first to require a new vaccine,” he told Channel 13, citing Omicron. Burla said the current vaccination practice, which is being stepped up every few months, “is not going to work well” in the future and he hoped to tackle the issue with a vaccine that could protect against the virus for at least a year. “I think a year in terms of healthcare is ideal, because it is easy to remember,” Burla told the network, adding that the vaccine can be given in parallel with other annual vaccinations. Amid the wave of the virus, coroner Tsar Salman Zarka said last Wednesday that the public should not be afraid of new restrictions and that the latest rise in infections was not as severe as the previous ones. Coronavirus Tsar Prof. Salman Zarka was spotted during a press conference near Tel Aviv on November 9, 2021. (Avshalom Sassoni / Flash90) Burla insisted in interviews that the pandemic was coming to an end and that life could return to pre-pandemic normalcy, although the virus would be present for years to come. “I believe we can dramatically reduce deaths, hospitalizations, illnesses and we can do that without implementing social isolation measures,” Burla told Khan, welcoming progress on vaccines and treatments “that will keep you out.” the hospital”. However, Burla stopped agreeing with the idea that the coronavirus has now mutated into a milder illness such as the flu. “I do not agree and I do not think that the health authorities of any country in the world agree with this perspective,” Burla told the public broadcaster, noting the ongoing hospitalizations and deaths. Addressing the vaccine movement, Burla told Channel 13 that most were “good people” who were simply “afraid” of the vaccine, while “very few” did their job of spreading misinformation to “create more fear”. Weighing the stance of the two Israeli prime ministers during the pandemic, Bourla told Channel 12 that both Naftali Bennett and Benjamin Netanyahu were “very interested in COVID” and its potential to wreak havoc on the economy and ” they did everything they could to solve it. “ President Isaac Herzog will receive the $ 1 million Genesis Award in Burla at a ceremony in Israel on June 29. The Associated Press contributed to this report. You are a devoted reader We’re really glad you read X Times of Israel articles last month. That’s why we started the Times of Israel ten years ago – to provide demanding readers like you with the coverage they need to read about Israel and the Jewish world. So now we have a request. Unlike other media, we have not created a paywall. However, as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom the Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel. 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