Published on : 29/03/2021 – 16:16Modified : 29/03/2021 – 16:15
–
Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)
Palestinians on Monday received 100,000 doses of the Chinese anti-coronavirus Sinopharm vaccine, donated by Beijing and constituting the largest batch of vaccines received since the start of the pandemic.
These doses “represent the promise made by China to put vaccines at the service of the world and to fully support the efforts of the Palestinian Authority in its fight against the coronavirus”, affirmed the Chinese ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, Guo Wei, at a press conference in Ramallah.
This batch of 100,000 doses will “greatly contribute to accelerating the vaccination campaign”, welcomed the Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila, who had recently warned of an upsurge in the number of cases of sick people in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority launched on March 21 the vaccination of people over 75 years of age and some patients, a few days after receiving a first batch of 60,000 anticoronavirus vaccines from the Covax device intended for disadvantaged regions.
More than 20,000 of the 60,000 Covax doses have been transferred to the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade.
Some 60,000 other doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine had already been delivered to Gaza from the United Arab Emirates, a shipment claimed by Mohammed Dahlan, a dissident of the Palestinian Fatah movement in exile in the Emirates and who had become an advisor to the Emirati crown prince.
Palestinians in the West Bank also received several thousand doses of the Russian vaccine in February, primarily intended for medical personnel.
Israel, a country that has vaccinated more than half of its nine million inhabitants, has pledged to provide Palestinians with 5,000 vaccines and has vaccinated more than 100,000 workers with permits to work in Israel or in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
NGOs and Palestinian officials recently claimed that Israel has an “obligation” as the “occupying” power to “provide” vaccines to the 2.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank and the two million in the Strip. Gaza. The West Bank is a Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by Israel.
Since the start of the pandemic, around 174,800 infected people have officially been identified in the occupied West Bank, including nearly 2,000 deaths. Some 63,750 cases have been detected in the Gaza Strip, including more than 600 deaths.
© 2021 AFP
–
