Palestinian Authority receives first 60,000 doses of COVAX vaccine

Palestinian Authority receives first 60,000 doses of COVAX vaccine

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The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday received 60,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, its largest single award to date and the first shipment of the vaccines through a donor program from the World Health Organization, known as COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access).
COVAX is expected to provide enough COVID-19 vaccine doses to one million Palestinians, equal to 20% of its population, during this year, as part of its goal of ensuring that 20% of the world population in poor and middle-income countries are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The cargo that arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport this morning included 37,000 doses of Pfizer and 23,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.

The Unit for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) facilitates the transfer of 40,000 doses to the Palestinian Authority through the Betunia crossing. An additional 20,000 vaccines would be transferred to the Gaza Strip later Wednesday.

The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said he was “pleased to welcome the arrival of the first group of COVID-19 vaccines in Palestine, via the COVAX facility, through a partnership that also includes the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and UNICEF.

“The vaccines sent to the West Bank and Gaza will be important tools in our fight against the pandemic and for socio-economic recovery,” he said. ‘The UN will support the Palestinian Authority through its good offices [sic] access to vaccines via the COVAX facility so that it can fully implement its national vaccination campaign, ”said Wennesland.

He also thanked Israel for coordinating the transmission of the vaccines.

The Palestinian Authority is only in the early stages of its vaccination program. According to a WTO report published last Thursday, only 9,646 Palestinians were vaccinated by Palestinian health services in the West Bank and Gaza.

The largest vaccination drive to date for Palestinians has been carried out by Israel, which plans to vaccinate 120,000 workers in sovereign Israel or in the West Bank settlements with the Moderna vaccine.

To date, approximately 90,000 of the Palestinians have been vaccinated with their first dose through a program organized by COGAT, the Ministry of Health and Magen David Adom.

In addition, Israel donated 5,000 Moderna vaccinations to the PA for Palestinians in the West Bank. The United Arab Emirates sent 60,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine to Gaza, of which 40,000 were transferred on Friday and 20,000 were sent to Gaza last month.

Russia separately donated 10,000 of its Sputnik vaccines to the PA.

The PA is expected to receive a shipment of 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine in China later this month.

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