‘Are you crazy?’ Some Gazans avoid vaccination against COVID-19

“Some people have said to me, ‘Are you crazy? Wait until you see if it’s good or bad,'” she said.

According to an official, only 8,500 people have been vaccinated in Gaza, although the enclave of two million people has received about 83,300 doses since February, donated by Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the global COVAX program.

The suspicion about the vaccines is deep in the Hamas-Islamic Gaza, which has registered more than 57,000 coronavirus infections and 572 deaths. It has recently relaxed the closure restrictions.

Some people are afraid of possible side effects of the jab and share their concerns widely on social media.

Millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered around the world.

Majdi Dhair, deputy director of primary health care, said the vaccines are safe.

“We have the experience of 8,500 people who have already taken the chance,” he said.

He said mild side effects that some people experience, such as short-term headaches and fever, cannot be compared to the great benefits that the vaccine offers to protect them from infection. “

Dhair said health authorities in Gaza give priority to the approximately 150,000 people who are considered high risk, such as medical staff and people with underlying health conditions.

“Only 26,000 people have registered. That’s a minimal number,” he said, citing misinformation on social media as part of the problem.

Ahmed Nasser, 57, leaned into a street in Gaza against a mural for vaccination, painted by young people, depicting a “coronavirus” with serrated teeth pulling a woman away from two young people holding her hand.

“Protect yourself,” reads a slogan next to the painting. “Hand in hand, it protects our elderly.”

Nasser, a government employee, was not convinced.

“Of course I would not take the vaccine. They say on social media it could lead to blood clots,” he said.

Both the West Bank and Gaza are far behind Israel, which was a world leader in vaccination.