Ministry says 4 cases of highly contagious variant discovered, but stresses no evidence that it causes more severe illness

Health Ministry's Alroy-Preis says no private information will be handed over to pharma giant, data will be used to assess when herd immunity achieved, infection curve broken

Move would reverse Trump approach, which saw officials hold back supply to guarantee that people could get 2nd shot

Khamenei says these countries sometimes first test their vaccines on others; Iran has region's worst virus toll, with 56,000 dead

Netanyahu and Edelstein to get Pfizer's second dose Saturday; 1.7 million Israelis have been vaccinated, but infections still near all-time high

Research, which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed, indicates vaccine could also work against South African strain, but more testing needed; Israeli health official welcomes news

With Pfizer to ship millions of doses from Sunday, Israel will be first in world out of pandemic, PM says; will share data with firm, acting as 'model country' for global strategy

Some 100,000 doses included in shipment, with further doses from the US biotech firm expected to reach the country next week

Broadcaster says inoculations delivered after PA made request for 'special humanitarian cases'; source says Abbas has not yet received shot; Palestinians deny report

Sharon Alroy-Preis says unclear what impact vaccination has on COVID variant, but says it may offer less protection against mutation