Palestine to Receive 10,000 Russian Sputnik Vaccine Doses

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is set to receive 10,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Mai Alkaila, said on Thursday.

The vaccines landed in a cargo plane at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, from where they would be transported to the West Bank.

The Palestinian government had purchased two million doses of the vaccine, which should arrive in the occupied autonomous territory between Feb. 14 and Feb. 20, according to a statement from the minister’s office in the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

The PA launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Tuesday, using 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine delivered to the West Bank by Israel, which started its mass vaccination campaign six weeks earlier.

The delivery, however, suffered criticism for not including the Palestinians in the occupied autonomous territories.

Israel argued that under interim peace deals, the PA was responsible for health care in the areas under its autonomous control.

Alkaila was the first to get vaccinated, followed by a number of medical workers.

Some of the vaccine doses were to be sent to Gaza, ruled by the Hamas movement, for use by medical teams there.

Israel had claimed it approved 5,000 doses for use by Palestinian medical teams.

The West Bank, home to nearly three million Palestinians, has seen 1,331 COVID-19 related deaths, while the Gaza Strip, home to some two million Palestinians, has seen 526 COVID-19 related deaths.