Mon 22 February 2021:
According to the World Bank report the Palestinians’ COVID-19 vaccination plan faces a $30 million funding shortfall, Reuters reported.
The Palestinians began vaccinations this month and have received small donations from Israel, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
Israel, a world leader in terms of vaccination speed, could perhaps consider donating surplus doses to the Palestinians to help accelerate a vaccine roll-out in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the bank said.
“In order to ensure there is an effective vaccination campaign, Palestinian and Israeli authorities should coordinate in the financing, purchase and distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines,” it said.
Cost estimates suggest that “a total of about $55 million would be needed to cover 60 percent of the population, of which there is an existing gap of $30 million,” the World Bank said, calling for additional donor help.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) plans to cover 20 percent of Palestinians through the COVAX vaccine-sharing program.
PA officials hope to procure additional vaccines to achieve 60 percent coverage.
Cost estimates suggest that “a total of about $55 million would be needed to cover 60 percent of the population, of which there is an existing gap of $30 million,” the World Bank said, calling for additional donor help.
Roughly 32,000 doses received to date fall far short of the 5.2 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, territory Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Palestinians and rights groups have accused Israel of ignoring its duties as an occupying power by not including the Palestinians in its inoculation program.
Israeli officials have said that under the Oslo peace accords, the PA health ministry is responsible for vaccinating people in Gaza and parts of the West Bank where it has limited self-rule.
“From a humanitarian perspective, Israel can consider donating the extra doses it has ordered that it would not be using,” the World Bank said.
The PA health ministry said on Friday that Israel had agreed to vaccinate 100,000 Palestinians who regularly cross into Israel for work.
A decision on vaccinating the Palestinian workers should be made soon, Nachman Ash, Israel’s coronavirus czar, told reporters on Sunday.
“From a medical perspective, we think vaccinating the Palestinian workers is very much the correct thing to do.”
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