The Palestinian Authority begins the vaccination campaign against COVID-19

Israel is the most advanced state in immunisation against COVID-19. Some 37% of its 9.2 million inhabitants have received at least one dose and 21% have already completed the vaccination cycle with the second dose. These figures place it as the world leader in vaccine administration per 100 population, and in total inoculations it is second only to the United States, China and the United Kingdom.

However, Israel's Ministry of Health recorded a total of 7,951 infections and 71 deaths last day. The numbers remain high despite the ongoing vaccination campaign and tight restrictions. Ministry sources point to ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods as the main centres of incidence.

On the other side of the walls, neither the West Bank, whose limited self-rule is run by the Palestinian Authority, nor Gaza, controlled by the Islamist Hamas organisation, had initiated vaccination programmes, as they had not received doses of the vaccine. Since the start of the pandemic, Johns Hopkins University has recorded nearly 160,000 cases in both areas, as well as 1,800 deaths.

Finally, the Palestinian Authority has launched the vaccination campaign. It has begun following the arrival of 2,000 doses of Moderna, as confirmed by Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila.

"We have started vaccinating our medical teams, starting with those in intensive care wards, as they are in the first line of defence and face the coronavirus directly," said Minister Al-Kaila.

The health minister did not mention the source of the vaccines. However, the Israeli Ministry of Defence reported on Monday that 2,000 doses for Palestinian health workers had been transferred through the checkpoint in the town of Beitunia, south of Ramallah, with another 3,000 doses to be transferred in the future.

In recent weeks, several human rights organisations have strongly criticised the Israeli government for its refusal to provide the drug to the inhabitants of the territories it occupies. However, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for overseeing public health under the principles of self-determination, according to the Oslo Accords.

On Monday, the WHO announced that the Palestinian Authority would receive 37,440 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by mid-February, after reaching an agreement with the manufacturers. The WHO added that they would receive between 240,000 and 405,600 additional doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine between mid- and late February, as well as a further 5,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and another 37,000 doses delivered through the COVAX mechanism.

The health minister herself acknowledged the information. Al-Kaila also said that the vaccination campaign has already reached its target of immunising three million Palestinians over the next few months.

Al-Kaila announced that the vaccines would also be sent to the Gaza Strip. However, the delivery of vaccines to this area is a source of controversy among Israelis because of the ongoing clashes with Hamas, which controls the area.

Authoritative voices in the Israeli state advocate blocking the arrival of vaccines to the area until the Islamic Resistance Movement returns the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, two soldiers killed in combat against the organisation during Israel's 2014 Operation Protective Edge defensive war.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamad Shtayeh announced on Monday an extension of the partial closure of the West Bank for a period of two weeks, and confirmed that the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus would begin in mid-February.

Infections, however, have been declining in recent weeks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Hamas has imposed a package of restrictions to try to mitigate transmission of the virus.