National laboratory chief: Goal is to develop an effective vaccine, not be first

The head of the Defense Ministry’s Institute for Biological Research says the Ness Ziona-based laboratory’s aim is to produce an effective vaccine against the coronavirus, not to be the first to develop one.

“I think our goal is not to be first, but to bring a good vaccine for the citizens of the State of Israel,” Shmuel Shapira tells the Knesset Science and Technology Committee, according to the Ynet news site.

The institute announced earlier this month that it would begin human trials in mid-October for the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing.

“We hope the second phase will finish toward the end of the year,” Shapira says. “The third phase is much more complicated and takes time.”