Israel delivered 700,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to South Korea weeks after Palestinians rejected a similar offer.
Last month, the Palestinian Authority turned down an Israeli proposal to supply 1.4 million Pfizer jabs to support its failing Covid-19 vaccination drive. They claimed the vaccines expired in a month or two.
The offer included 100,000 jabs already delivered by Jerusalem to its medical authorities. According to Israeli officials, the shipped doses would have expired within a month or two, which is not unusual. Most of the coronavirus vaccines have a short shelf-life, lasting not more than six months.
The Wall Street Journal described the deal between Israel and South Korea as the “World’s first Covid-19 Vaccine Swap,” in which Seoul will ship back the same number of Pfizer jabs by October.
Reuters reported the Israel-South Korea vaccine deal:
South Korea said it will receive 700,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s (PFE.N) coronavirus vaccine from Israel on loan this week, in an attempt to speed up immunisation following a surge in infections around the capital Seoul. (…)Under the vaccine swap arrangement announced by both governments on Tuesday, South Korea will give Israel back the same number of shots, already on order from Pfizer, in September and October.South Korea has quickly distributed the COVID-19 vaccines it has, but has struggled to obtain enough doses in a timely manner as global supplies are tight, particularly in Asia.Briefing reporters in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the vaccines were being loaded aboard a plane within hours of the deal’s announcement on Tuesday, and that South Korean officials would verify their viability.”This is a win-win deal,” he said in an earlier statement. “Together we will beat the pandemic.”
South Korea is not the only country cooperating with Israeli in combatting the Chinese virus. Israel has been working together with the United States and European allies in this field. In May, Jerusalem sent medical equipment and supplies to India as the country’s healthcare system struggled to keep pace with the surge in coronavirus cases.
The generous Israeli offer to the Palestinians came less than a month after Gaza-based terrorist outfits renewed their armed offensive against the Jewish State, firing thousands of rockets on Israeli towns and cities.
As the Palestinian Authority continues with its long-held policy of Rejectionism towards Israel, the Palestinian people have become the biggest victims of their politics. While the world will eventually overcome the Chinese pandemic, there is no end in sight for the scourge of antisemitic hate and violence perpetrated by the PA and Hamas leadership.
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