Israel is reportedly planning to provide COVID-19 vaccines for Holocaust survivors around the world

Tim O'Donnell

Israel is planning to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Holocaust survivors, both within the country and across the diaspora, Israel Hayom reports, per The Jerusalem Post.

The operation is reportedly in the early stages — Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich has instructed the Shalom Corps to strategize, and the group has reportedly approached large medical shipping companies about logistics. Meanwhile, the diaspora affairs ministry is reportedly working with Israel's health ministry to coordinate with Pfizer and Moderna, the companies producing coronavirus vaccines authorized in Israel. The intention is reportedly to provide survivors around the world with additional vaccines, rather than take from Israel's quota.

"In a time of acute global crisis in the face of the coronavirus, we have the privilege to repay, if only slightly, Holocaust survivors who survived the inferno of Nazi oppression," Yankelevich told Israel Hayom.

Israel has received international praise for its vaccination program, which includes inoculating roughly 150,000 people, or a world-leading 1.5 percent of the population, per day, putting the country on pace to complete the mission within a matter of months. At the same time, Jerusalem has faced criticism for not distributing vaccines to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, instead contending the Palestinian Authority holds that responsibility. Read more about the plan to vaccinate Holocaust survivors around the world at The Jerusalem Post.

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