At the invitation of the government of Argentina, a delegation from Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem traveled to Argentina to investigate initiating a phase III trial there of the Israeli Brilife COVID-19 vaccine. They will also be sharingtheir medical expertise and experience in dealing with the pandemic.
The Argentine-Israeli collaboration with Brilife, developed jointly by Hadassah and the Israeli Institute for Biological Research, would involve not only the phase III trials and confirmation that the vaccine is safe and effective but also the production of the vaccine at an industrial level in Argentina. Israel needs a partner from abroad as there is currently no mass production of vaccine in Israel. Argentina would then be able to use the vaccine at home and export it to other countries.
The Hadassah team will also hold counseling sessions and joint dialogues with Argentinian health and medical professionals.Technical and professional teams will then make recommendations for the particular Argentinian situation based on the successful experience that Israel has had so far in managing the pandemic.
The Hadassah delegation is headed by Prof. Yoram Weiss, director of Hadassah Ein Kerem, and is made up of Jorge Diener, executive director of Hadassah International; Prof. SigalSviri, director of Hadassah's COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit;and nurse Claudia Poggi. Others include Prof. Dror Mevorach, head of one of the hospital's COVID units and inventor of Allocetra, a treatment for the disease that has demonstrated very good results, and Prof. Yoseph Caraco, director of the Hadassah Clinical Research Department, who is in charge of the Brilifevaccine.