Palestinians begin COVID vaccinations in West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The Palestinian Authority began vaccinating its health workers in the occupied West Bank against Covid-19 on Tuesday after receiving doses from Israel, Palestinian officials said.

Israel has in recent weeks faced mounting global pressure, including from the United Nations, to help Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to gain access to vaccines.

Israel’s defence ministry said on Sunday that it would send 5,000 vaccine doses to the Palestinian Authority to inoculate medical workers.

“We started today,” Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al Kaila said.

She added that on Wednesday a supply of doses would be sent to Gaza, an Israeli-blockaded territory controlled by Hamas Islamists, so that inoculation of front line workers could begin in the enclave.

“We have given highest priority to health personnel... and those working in intensive care units,” she said in a video distributed by Palestinian television.

The Palestinian Authority has previously said that it had signed contracts with four vaccine providers, including the makers of Russia’s Sputnik V.

It said last month that it had arranged to procure enough vaccines to cover 70 per cent of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel is carrying out what is widely described as the world’s fastest vaccination campaign per capita, with more than 3 million of the country’s 9 million people having received one of the two required Pfizer jabs.

Israel has also procured supplies from Moderna. The doses sent to the Palestinian Authority were from the Moderna stock, officials said.