Israel Excludes Palestinians From COVID-19 Vaccine Program In Territories They Captured

JAKARTA - Israel has created an impressive COVID-19 vaccination program that has broken records. But ironically, Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza can only watch and wait.

The situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories is a clear example of the gap between the rich countries that received the vaccine first and developing countries with lower economic capacity. The Jewish-majority country has shipped the Pfizer / bioNTech vaccine to the West Bank.

But the vaccine is only distributed to Jewish settlers. Meanwhile, as proclaimed by The Guardian, Monday, January 4, 2021, around 2.7 million Palestinians who live in their vicinity may have to wait weeks or months to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

"I don't know how, but there must be a way to make us a priority too?" said Mahmoud Kilani, a 31-year-old sports coach from the Palestinian city of Nablus. “Who cares about us? I don't think anyone has stuck to that question. "

Two weeks after Israel's COVID-19 vaccination program began, more than 150,000 doses have been given a day. This is the initial injection for more than 1 million of its 9 million citizens. That number is the highest proportion of the population from anywhere else.

Vaccine centers have been set up in sports stadiums and squares. People over 60 years of age, healthcare workers, nurses and high-risk populations have priority. Meanwhile, younger, healthier people are sometimes given injections from excess stock to avoid waste.

Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the country could be the first to emerge from the pandemic. Apart from a highly sophisticated health care system, one reason for speed could be economic. A health ministry official said the country had paid US $ 62 per dose, compared to US $ 19.50 paid by the US.

Meanwhile, the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, which maintains limited self-rule in the region, is scrambling to get a vaccine. An official said with optimism that vaccinations could be carried out in the next two weeks.

However, when asked about the timeframe, Ali Abed Rabbo, director general of the Palestinian health ministry, predicted the first vaccine might arrive in February. The vaccines will be received through a partnership led by the World Health Organization (WHO) called Covax, which aims to help poor countries. The program has promised to vaccinate 20 percent of Palestinians. But the vaccine intended for Covax has not yet received "emergency use" approval by WHO, a prerequisite for initiating distribution.

Israeli officials say maybe they can give Palestinians a surplus of vaccines. But they claim they are not responsible for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, pointing to a 1990s interim agreement that requires authorities to adhere to international vaccination standards.

Gisha, an Israeli rights group, said Palestinian efforts so far to seek a vaccine elsewhere "have not relieved Israel of its primary responsibility for Palestine under occupation."

This uneven vaccination program aims to get Israelis back to normal life in the first three months of this year, while Palestinians remain trapped by the virus. This may have a negative impact on Israel's goal of establishing herd immunity, as thousands of West Bank Palestinians work in Israel and settlements, where transmission rates remain high.

In Gaza, an impoverished enclave under the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, the duration of getting a vaccine could be longer than in the West Bank. Hamas is unable to contain the virus and is hostile to Israel and has political rivals with the Palestinian Authority.

Salama Ma'rouf, head of the Hamas-run Gaza press office, predicted the vaccine would arrive "in two months", adding that there was coordination with the WHO and the Palestinian Authority.