Israel to ship 7 lakh expiring doses of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to South Korea

Israel and South Korea have signed an agreement where the former will send 7,00,000 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to South Korea with the promise of getting back the same jabs in the future, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated on July 6. In a statement, Bennett, who personally negotiated with Pfizer CEO Albert Burla on this deal, said "According to the agreement, Israel will immediately transfer approximately 7,00,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to South Korea for the vaccination of its citizens by the end of July. In exchange, South Korea will return the same quantity of vaccines to Israel from a future order in September-October 2021,". The PM called it a "win-win deal " after giving headway to the first vaccine swap agreement. 

Till now, South Korea has authorized the use of Pfizer BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Janssen vaccines to inoculate its 18 above population. Over 15.3 million people in the country have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccination with over 5 million receiving both doses. This number, however, stands for mostly medical personnel, the elder generation, soldiers, teachers and diplomats. Citizens between the 20-50 age group are still waiting to get inoculated. By September, the country aims to inoculate 36 million of its 52 million population with hopes of achieving herd immunity by November. 

The side effects and efficacy of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine 

The mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer was developed by the German company BioNTech to provide protection against infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the use of this vaccine in an emergency. The vaccine comes with a remote chance of having an allergic reaction including difficulty in breathing, fast heartbeat, dizziness and weakness among others. The vaccine has been authorized for people aged 12 years or older whereas the clinical trials of younger children are underway. 

The vaccine has been 94% effective in preventing hospitalisation after the first dose with rising effectiveness post-inoculation of both doses. 

To know more about the vaccines, how they work, their side effects, efficacy data  and  which countries are inoculating which jabs, you can visit the official website of the World Health Organisation (WHO)

(Source- ANI)