Vials with stickers reading ‘COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only’ and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed Moderna logo, in this illustration taken on Oct. 31, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Dado Ruvic / Illustration / File.

America’s envoy to the Jewish state on Monday hailed US-Israel cooperation after Moderna announced that its experimental Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing the disease.

Noting that Moderna’s chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, was an Israeli who studied at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Ambassador David Friedman tweeted, “Another great example of Israelis and Americans working together to make the world a better place!”

Congratulations to Moderna on today’s promising vaccine test results and to Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tal Zaks, who received his MD and PhD from Ben Gurion University in the Negev. Another great example of Israelis and Americans working together to make the world a better place!

— David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) November 16, 2020

Zaks told BBC News on Monday, “The overall effectiveness has been remarkable… it’s a great day.”

In early June, as reported by The Algemeiner, Zaks credited “the first-rate education” he got at Ben-Gurion University, but noted that the story of how Israel put him on his present course “actually starts from the times I was a medic in the IDF.”

At the time, Zaks predicted Massachusetts-based Moderna would be able to produce “a billion doses” of a Covid-19 vaccine in 2021.

Later in June, Israel signed a deal with Moderna for the future purchase of its vaccine.