Israel to Procure, Transfer Millions of COVID-19 Vaccines to Palestinians
by i24 News
i24 News – A senior Palestinian Authority official claimed on Sunday that Israel has agreed to transfer millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Ramallah in the coming months, according to Israeli daily Israel Hayom.
Some three to four million coronavirus vaccines are expected to reach Palestinian medical workers as part of a deal Israel has reached with pharmaceutical companies.
Citing a senior source in the PA Health Ministry, Israel has agreed to set aside a certain percentage of the treatment it procures from drug firms for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel has already held talks with the world’s leading drug companies in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine including Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, reserving for itself some six million vaccine doses.
The Palestinian Authority said it will also receive coronavirus vaccine treatments from the United Nations and international aid organizations.
It warned, however, that it will still be short several million vaccines needed to inoculate the entire population, especially in Gaza.
Earlier this month, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that it had developed a coronavirus vaccine with an efficacy rate of 95% following a massive Phase III trial testing thousands of volunteers.
Later on, its rival Moderna announced that the early results for its own vaccine against COVID-19 also indicated an effectivity rate of 94.5%.