De Ali Sawafta
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – As Israel prepares to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to its citizens, Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza are working to secure their own doses, which health officials say are still months away. .
Palestinian leaders have launched a wide network in search of them, contacting international organizations, drug manufacturers such as Moderna and AstraZeneca, and states such as Russia and China that produce their own vaccines.
But the moneyless Palestinian government has yet to finalize any private supply agreements – a contrast from neighboring Israel, which has secured millions of doses from drugmakers and is developing its own vaccine.
Israel begins its vaccination effort on Saturday.
“It will be many months before we receive enough vaccines to mass vaccinate people,” Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who has limited self-government in the West Bank, said on Thursday.
The PA expects to receive 20% of its needs from the World Health Organization’s vaccination scheme for low- and middle-income countries. The rest will come from PA or donor-funded vaccine purchases, says PA.
PA Health Minister Mai Alkaila estimated that the PA could receive an initial transport of the vaccine by March. He didn’t say from whom.
New cases of coronavirus have risen in recent weeks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel keeps under a blockade, citing threats from Islamist leaders in the Hamas coastal enclave.
The WHO says it is working with UN agencies to provide vaccines and medical equipment for Gaza.
But some rights groups have said it is Israel’s responsibility to ensure that Palestinians living in the territory it captured in a 1967 war receive vaccines.
“Israel is committed to protecting the health and safety of all people living under its control, including ensuring that the vaccine is available in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza,” Israeli rights group Gisha said.
Israeli Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch said Israel would consider PA assistance if “we see that Israel’s needs have been met and we have additional capabilities.
“There is also a significance and a benefit in preventing (carriers) from entering (our side) in this matter. But the citizens of Israel come first,” Kisch told Kan radio.
Gaza, whose densely concentrated and largely poor population of 2 million is vulnerable to infections, has recorded 237 deaths and more than 32,000 cases of coronavirus.
The West Bank, which is home to 3 million Palestinians, has 86,594 cases and 846 deaths.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Rami Ayyub in Tel Aviv and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Edited by Mike Collett-White)