Israel will deliver one million doses of expiring coronavirus vaccines to the Palestinian Authority, following an agreement between the two parties, the Israeli government announced on Friday.
"Israel signed an agreement with the Palestinian Authority and will deliver one million doses of Pfizer vaccines about to expire and will receive in exchange the doses that the Pfizer company had to send to the Palestinian Authority," said the Prime Minister's office and the ministries. Israeli Defense and Health, in a joint statement.
The Palestinian Authority, whose seat of government is in the occupied West Bank, did not immediately comment on this information.
"Israel will receive the same number of doses of Pfizer (ie one million, ndlr) in the months of September / October 2021 on account of what was destined for the Palestinian Authority," according to the Israeli statement.
"This agreement could be made after having verified that the stock of vaccines that Israel has in its possession meets its current needs," he explained.
Thanks to an extensive vaccination campaign, launched at the end of December following an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, about 55% of the Israeli population, or more than 5.1 million people, received two doses of vaccines.
On the Palestinian side, only 260,713 people received their two doses in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
