In less than three weeks, Israel has vaccinated nearly 15% of its 9.3 million people with the first of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, dramatically outpacing the rollout in the United States and much of Europe, in terms of population size. By law, every Israeli citizen must register with one of four health maintenance organizations, which are heavily subsidized by the government.
Nearly 2.7 million Palestinians living around them won't be getting the vaccines any time soon.
Coinciding with its rapid vaccine rollout, Israel is facing tight new restrictions aimed at stemming what has become a massive new outbreak of coronavirus cases. The death toll stands now at 3,445 people. It continues to say that "Israeli officials have suggested they might provide surplus vaccines to Palestinians and claim they are not responsible for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, pointing to 1990s-era interim agreements that required the authority to observe global vaccination standards".
"The rate of contagion is catastrophic", said Edelstein, the health minister. Israel has defended its actions citing the Oslo Peace Accords, which put Palestinian authorities in charge of healthcare in the West Bank and Gaza.
In a statement, the army said the officer spotted the man approaching an intersection and together with an Israeli soldier fired warning shots into the air. "As reported within the same article, the PA has not even asked Israel for help in this regard, looking to source the vaccines elsewhere".
Israel says the buildings are erected illegally, but Palestinians, the United Nations and rights groups say it is nearly impossible for Palestinians to gain planning permission from Israeli authorities to build in Area C, which is under full Israeli control. There is no agreed timeline as of now, he added, but "we expect delivery by the end of February or in March". "We don't know exactly yet when vaccines will become available for distribution, as many potential vaccines are being studied and several large clinical trials are underway", said Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of office of the World Health Organization office for the Palestinian territories.
Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of WHO Jerusalem, said it could be "early to mid-2021" before vaccines on the Covax scheme were available for distribution in the Palestinian territories. Ninety-two countries participating in the program are awaiting emergency use approval of the vaccines before distribution begins. To continue the successful campaign, Israel will need a steady supply of the pledged vaccines.
