JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel on Friday postponed plans to vaccinate Palestinians working within the country and in its West Bank settlements until further notice.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates day-to-day affairs with the Palestinian Authority, attributed the postponement to “administrative delays”, adding that a new campaign start date would be determined later.
The vaccination program was due to start on Sunday, at the West Bank crossings to Israel and in Israeli industrial zones.
These inoculations could have eased criticism of Israel for not sharing significant amounts of its vaccine stocks with Palestinians who were under Israeli control in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – even with Israel successfully launching one of the fastest vaccines in the world.
Israel also announced plans to share surplus vaccines with distant allies in Africa, Europe and Latin America, but the decision was frozen for legal reasons. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with leaders from Denmark and Austria said the three nations would join forces in the fight against COVID-19 with an investment in research and vaccine launches.
About 100,000 Palestinian West Bank workers work in Israel. The PA has acquired enough dose for just 6,000 of its population – meaning that the vast majority of the nearly 7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will remain unvaccinated.
The West Bank was put under new restrictive measures last week to contain the increase in infections.