Palestinians get 60,000 vaccine doses through WHO program
The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday it will receive over 60,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses over the next 48 hours, provided by a World Health Organization partnership aimed at helping poor countries.
Vaccine doses from #COVAX arrived today, ahead of Palestine MoH’s official launch of its National Vaccine Deployment Plan this Sunday. 61,440 vaccine doses for both #Gaza and #WestBank. #PlayYourRole, protect others – #GetVaccinated pic.twitter.com/vrbKcunkHE
— UNICEF Palestine (@UNICEFpalestine) March 17, 2021
Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Kamal al-Shakhra announced in a press release that ministry received today some 62,000 vaccine doses; 38,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in addition to 24,000 of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He noted that the AstraZeneca vaccine would be stored “until there is a scientific decision from the World Health Organization”.
These are the first doses to arrive through the WHO’s COVAX initiative, a global humanitarian partnership that has been slow to get off the ground, facing shortages of cash and supplies as rich countries have galloped ahead with their vaccination campaigns.
The shipment provided by WHO is enough to vaccinate 31,000 people out of a population of nearly 5 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip.
Until now, the PA had received 2,000 doses from the occupation state and another 10,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine.
Gaza Strip has received 60,000 doses in shipments organized by Mohammed Dahlan, a political rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who is based in the United Arab Emirates.
Palestinian health minister, Mai al-Kayleh, said a wider vaccination campaign would begin on Sunday.
She said the vaccination of medical personnel would be completed, and vaccinations of people over 75 years of age, kidney patients and cancer patients would begin.
Several rights groups have called on ‘Israel’ to give the Palestinians access to the vaccine, as it is obligated to do so as an occupying power.
Under the fourth Geneva Convention, ‘Israel’, as an occupying power, is obligated to provide Palestinians with the vaccines, as the occupying forces are responsible for providing healthcare to the population of the occupied area.
Most states as well as the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, consider ‘Israel’ to be an occupying power.
Indeed, while it has been praised for its swift vaccine rollout, ‘Israel’ excluded the nearly 5 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, under its military occupation, from COVID-19 vaccination.
Today, 49.11% of Israel’s population is fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
To date, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, there have been nearly 2590 deaths related to COVID-19 among Palestinians in the OPT since the beginning of the pandemic, 572 of them in the Gaza strip.
