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Hard Numbers: Sputnik V jabs for Gaza, US and allies discuss Iran, Mexico's Pfizer scam, fluorescent species

February 18, 2021
Gabrielle Debinski
A Palestinian worker prepares to unload a shipment of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 4, 2021.

2,000: The embattled Gaza Strip received its first batch of COVID vaccines, with 2,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V jab sent to the enclave, which has a population of 2 million. Amid an ongoing debate over whether Israel should supply vaccines to the Palestinians, the jabs were sent by the Palestinian Authority — which controls the West Bank — not the Israeli government.

3: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks Thursday with counterparts from three allied states — Germany, France, and the UK — on how to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran recently said that if the Western signatories don't live up to their end of the bargain, it will block the UN nuclear watchdog from inspecting some of its sites as of next week.

6: Mexican authorities arrested six people in the northern state of Nuevo León for trafficking fake COVID vaccines, presenting them as the coveted Pfizer shots which are scarce in Mexico. Suspects allegedly tried to sell the jabs for $2,000 a pop.

2: Two species of large rodents called springhares have been discovered to glow in the dark. Scientists say the animals have a pinky-orange tinge under UV light, joining a small club of mammals like platypuses and some squirrels that share the rare trait.

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