Jerusalem – After several delays, Israel began vaccinating Palestinians working in the country and in their West Bank settlements on Monday, more than two months after starting a blitzkrieg campaign to immunize the population.
Palestinian workers who entered Israel through various checkpoints in the West Bank received their first doses of Moderna vaccine, administered by paramedics from the emergency medical service Magen David Adom.
The operation organized by COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates government activities in the West Bank, has been repeatedly postponed.
About 100,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank work in Israel and its settlements, which are seen by much of the international community as illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Major General Kamil Abu Rukun, who heads COGAT, said in an Arab statement that Israelis and Palestinians “live in the same epidemiological space” and that vaccinating Palestinians is a shared interest.
Israel has administered approximately 8.7 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine to its population of 9.3 million people. About 3.7 million Israelis – more than 40% – have already received both doses. But as of Monday, the government had provided few vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, underscoring more widespread inequality and drawing international criticism.
Human rights groups and many Palestinians claim that Israel, as an occupation force, is responsible for providing vaccines to Palestinians. Israel says it has no such obligation under the mid-1990s peace accords.
The Israeli authorities have said the priority is to vaccinate the Israeli population first, while the Palestinian Authority has said it will get its own vaccines through a World Health Organization alliance with humanitarian organizations known as COVAX.
So far, the Palestinian Authority has procured enough doses for just 6,000 people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, home to nearly 5 million Palestinians. It received 2,000 doses from Israel and bought another 10,000 of a Russian-made vaccine. They all need two doses per person.
Israel has also announced plans to share leftover vaccines with allies in Africa, Europe and Latin America, although the decision has been delayed by legal details. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Danish and Austrian authorities on Thursday and said the three countries would join forces in the fight against COVID-19 by investing in vaccine research and distribution.