A Palestinian labourer who works within Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank, is vaccinated at an Israeli facility at Shaar Efraim crossing from Israel to the West Bank, March 8, 2021. REUTERS/ Ammar Awad

JNS.org – The delivery of a US donation of 500,000 vaccines to counter the ongoing coronavirus arrived in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

The Moderna vaccine doses were made in partnership with the global COVAX vaccine-sharing program, reported Reuters. Palestinians said they now have 2.5 million doses; the West Bank will receive 300,000 of the vaccines and Gaza the rest.

Palestinian officials said they also expect to receive 1 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in September.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that for now, unvaccinated public-sector employees would be put on unpaid leave.

According to the report, Palestinian Authority Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said they are “on the precipice of a fourth wave in terms of cases, deaths and hospital occupancy.”

In the West Bank on Tuesday, 696 people were reported as being infected with COVID-19 and 874 in Gaza.