Does Pfizer support Israel?

Israel's Ministry of Health published its annual report of drug-company donations on 22 December 2021, and it recorded Pfizer as having given about NIS 8.6 million (about US$2.67 million at the Bank of Israel official rate of 3.215 shekels to the dollar on 31 December 2020) to medical bodies in Israel during 2020 — 10% more than the NIS 7.8 million recorded for 2019, and about NIS 44.7 million in total since 2012. The largest items were NIS 1.2 million to the Israel Medical Association and NIS 1.2 million to the Sheba Medical Center research fund, then NIS 840,000 to Carmel Medical Center, NIS 460,000 to the Naman association, which assists stroke patients, NIS 426,000 to the medical research company Mor and about NIS 402,000 to Ariel University. This is the company's own money as disclosed under the ministry's donations-transparency regime — not the Pfizer Foundation's grantmaking and not employee giving. The same report put all donations reported by the industry at about NIS 75 million, with Bristol Myers at NIS 9.9 million and Teva at NIS 8.2 million. Walla News, reporting separately in March 2024, gave the same NIS 8.6 million for Pfizer in 2020.

Signed a Real-World Epidemiological Evidence Collaboration Agreement with Israel's Ministry of Health: Israel supplied Pfizer with aggregate national epidemiological data (cases, hospitalizations, deaths, vaccinations) in exchange for a steady, prioritized supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses, making Israel the flagship real-world test population for the vaccine. CEO Albert Bourla told NBC in early 2021 that "Israel has become the world's lab right now" because it was vaccinating so much of its population with only Pfizer's vaccine. Pfizer later published joint real-world effectiveness analyses with the ministry.

Walla News reported on 30 March 2024, from the Health Ministry's report of drug-company donations, that Pfizer again led the list for 2022, giving NIS 13 million (about US$3.69 million at the Bank of Israel official rate of 3.519 shekels to the dollar on 30 December 2022) to Israel's health system that year — NIS 5 million less than in 2021, the article said. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev received the largest sum from Pfizer for two years running, NIS 5.3 million, followed by Hadassah hospital with NIS 1.1 million, Ichilov hospital with NIS 604,000, Shaare Zedek with almost NIS 600,000 and Sheba (Tel HaShomer) with a similar sum. The article names the company itself as the donor. Donations reported by the whole industry came to NIS 85 million in 2022.

After the October 7 Hamas attack, chairman and CEO Albert Bourla published "Standing with the People of Israel" on LinkedIn and wrote to employees that "it is not enough to condemn these actions—we ourselves must take action." Pfizer republished the statement through its official newsroom, and the company appeared on the Yale School of Management list of companies that condemned the attack.

The Pfizer Foundation (the company's charitable foundation) launched a donation campaign supporting organizations providing emergency assistance after the October 7 attack, and Pfizer the corporation matched all colleague donations made through the campaign. The foundation also held discussions with partner NGOs about additional financial support, and the company assessed needs for medicines and vaccines with its humanitarian-logistics partners.