Palestinians cancel Pfizer vaccine agreement with Israel
Covid-19, News
Islam News – The Palestinian Authority has canceled an agreement with Israel that was to have seen at least 1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 transferred to the West Bank and Gaza.
The abrupt turnaround came after health officials in Ramallah inspected the first delivery of almost 90,000 doses Friday afternoon, the Palestinian Health Minister said.
"It was found that the doses did not conform to the technical specifications as previously agreed upon, and that their expiry date was close," minister Mai Alkaila said, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
"Hence, we reached out to Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, and a decision was made to cancel the deal," Alkaila added.
The move to transfer Israel's surplus stock of Pfizer vaccines to Palestinians in the occupied territories, an arrangement already in the works under the previous Netanyahu administration, according to Israeli media reports, was announced Friday morning by the Israeli government.
Almost 450,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have received a Covid-19 vaccine so far, according to PA figures, of whom just over 270,000 have received two doses. The two territories have a population of between 4.5 million and 5 million people.
COVID-19IsraelPalestiniansPfizervaccines