Korea Receives 700,000 COVID-19 Vaccines from Israel Under a Swap Deal

Israel comes to South Korea’s aid by sending a substantial amount of COVID-19 vaccines in a swap deal to help with the latter’s low inoculation rate.

Swapping 700,000 COVID-19 Vaccines

On July 6th, both countries signed a vaccine swap deal that covers 700,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccines. Under the agreement, within a few days, Israel will deliver expiring vaccines that must be used by the end of July to Korea. In exchange, Korea will ship back the same amount during September or October when their previously ordered Pfizer doses arrive.

The deal would be a great opportunity for Korea to boost its vaccination rates instead of waiting until September due to insufficient doses.

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett considered the deal a win-win situation because the “existing vaccine stocks will be effectively managed” and go out to countries that are in urgent need and with appropriate cold-chain storage infrastructures. 

A Drop in Pfizer Vaccines’ Efficacy Against Delta Variant

Israel is one of the countries that has achieved the highest rate of full vaccinations. However, the Delta variant has proven to be more infectious than the original SARS-CoV-2 strain, infecting people even when they are fully vaccinated. According to Israel’s Health Ministry, the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine dropped to 64% during the period between June 6th and July 3rd, compared to the 94.3% registered from May 2nd to June 5th.

A similar decrease was observed in efficacy against hospitalization and severe disease, but the number dipped from 98.2% to only 93%, still providing strong protection.

Due to this sizeable drop in efficacy, the authorities are now considering a booster dose and revive the mandate to wear masks indoors to prevent the Delta variant from spreading. In the recently concluded BIO Digital 2021 conference, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that a third shot is likely needed in the next 8 to 12 months after the second shot. Pfizer is currently investigating the best timing to inoculate the third shot.

Korea’s Domestic COVID-19 Progress

Korea has currently approved four COVID-19 vaccines developed by overseas pharmaceutical companies, and Pfizer/BioNTech’s BNT162b2 would be predominantly used to reach herd immunity.

On top of that, Korea has accelerated its domestic COVID-19 vaccine development. An Investigational New Drug (IND) application for Phase 3 clinical trial was filed for SK Bioscience’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate GBP510. Other local firms such as Genexine, Cellid, GeneOne Life Science, and EuBiologics are pushing to complete Phase 1/2 trials and advance to the next phase, to bolster the arsenal against COVID-19 in the near future.

Related Article: SK Bioscience Submits Phase 3 IND for First Korea-Made COVID-19 Vaccine

Author

Tyler Chen

"Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died."- Erma Bombeck