Pfizer halted a shipment of 700,000 COVID vaccines scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday following the country"s failure to pay for the last 2.5 million doses shipped there, writes The Insider.

According to the Jerusalem Post, a shipment of 700,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine was due to arrive in Israel last Sunday but was delayed indefinitely, pending payment.

The Jerusalem Post wrote that local Israeli media outlet Army Radio was circulating reports that Pfizer staff were calling the country a “banana republic”, commenting on its political instability. The media outlet also reported that senior officials at Pfizer were concerned that the Israeli government - currently led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - would not come through with payment.

Netanyahu’s government rolled out a mass vaccination campaign after it paid for its first 10 million vaccines, but the supply began to run short in February.

According to Reuters, the Israeli government sought to buy around 36 million more Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses, which would cost the country around 3.5 billion shekels (around USD 1.05 billion). But these plans - as well as a motion to approve funds to pay for the 700,000 COVID vaccines - were halted when Netanyahu and defense minister Benny Gantz got into a political tiff over judicial appointments.