With its vaccine stocks insured, Israel uses surpluses to “Buy goodwill” from friendly countries, the Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, recognized on Wednesday February 24. While a number of health experts urged it to transfer these doses to the Palestinian territories, intimately connected to Israel, the government undertook to ship tens of thousands to distant states, which have done it favors by the past.
The list of beneficiaries has not been officially revealed, but the public television channel Kan mentions nineteen. Several of them have recently recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite the disputed status of the Holy City, or have indicated their desire to maintain or move their embassies there: Honduras, Guatemala, Hungary , Uganda and the Czech Republic.
Chad, which established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2019, and several African countries maintaining privileged security relations with the country (Ethiopia, Kenya) are also part of it. According to Kan, these deliveries would represent a total of 100,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine. Not enough to immunize the employees of a national health service, but enough to distribute favors or ensure a communication blow. As of Tuesday, the Czech Republic and Honduras confirmed having received a promise of delivery of 5,000 doses.
More than sufficient stocks
This vaccine diplomacy is not a demonstration of power of the order of that led by India – in close competition with China – by promising to offer its neighbors 20 million doses of Covishield, the vaccine of British AstraZeneca manufactured on its territory. It also doesn’t compare to Russia’s efforts to promote recognition of the value of its Sputnik V vaccine and share it with its allies.
Israel differs in that it does not produce these doses. He obtained them en masse before all others, first from the American laboratory Pfizer, promising to deliver his medical data to assess the effectiveness of the vaccine in real conditions. The country has also already funded, last week, the delivery of doses of Russian serum to the Syrian regime, to facilitate the release of an Israeli citizen.
On Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu recalled that more than 5 million Israelis have already been vaccinated and that its entire adult population (6.2 million) could be in a few weeks. Prime Minister believed his country had stocks “More than sufficient” and could afford to reduce those formed at the Moderna laboratory.
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