The Palestinian Health Minister announced that the Palestinian Authority canceled an agreement on Friday to receive COVID-19 vaccines from Israel that were nearing expiration after it became clear that the first Israeli shipment would expire before the agreed-upon date. Israel and the Palestinian Authority had announced an agreement to exchange vaccines on Friday, under which Israel would send up to 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for a similar number of doses later this year.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated that the doses "expire soon." The Palestinian Authority said it agreed to the deal "to expedite the vaccination process and achieve community immunity" in the West Bank and Gaza. Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila later told reporters on Friday, "They told us the expiration date was in July and August... There was a wide margin for use... However, if it expired in June, the margin for use is not wide; for that reason, we rejected it."
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority said the agreement was canceled due to the expiration date issue, and they returned a shipment of about 90,000 doses to Israel. Bennett's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Human rights groups criticized Israel for not doing more to ensure that Palestinians receive vaccine doses in the territories it occupied during the 1967 war. Israeli officials stated that the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health, under the Oslo peace agreements, is responsible for vaccinations in Gaza and parts of the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority has limited self-governance.
This agreement was among the initial moves in Bennett's policy towards Palestinians since he took office on Sunday, succeeding veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Approximately 55% of Israel's total population of 9.3 million people has received two doses of the vaccine, a figure that has not changed significantly after expanding the vaccination campaign to include those aged 12 to 15.
About 30% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who have no contraindications have received at least one dose, according to Palestinian officials. A poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research on Tuesday showed that 40% of Palestinians want to take the vaccine as soon as it becomes available, while 35% said they and their families are not prepared to receive it.
Palestinians have received vaccine doses from Israel, Russia, China, the UAE, and the global COVAX program aimed at equitable vaccine distribution.
