WHO raises ‘equity concerns’ about Israel’s vaccine program
JERUSALEM — The World Health Organization has raised “concerns” about the unequal distribution of coronavirus vaccines in Israel, which has given shots to more than 20 per cent of its population, and the occupied territories, where Palestinians have yet to receive any, an official said Monday.
Rights groups say Israel has the responsibility as an occupying power to provide vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel says it has no such obligation.
The Palestinian Authority has accused Israel of “racism” for not sharing its vaccines, but it has made no formal request to Israel and says it is procuring its own supplies through a WHO program and agreements with private companies.
“We’ve raised a number of public health concerns and equity concerns about this unequal distribution of vaccines or unequal access to vaccines,” Dr. Gerald Rockenschaub, head of the WHO office for the Palestinian territories, told The Associated Press.
“We have discussions with the Israelis on a number of levels, also from higher levels of our organization, trying to explore the option, whether Israel could consider to allocate vaccines” to the Palestinians, he said, adding that the “primary target” would be front-line health workers.
Israel boasts one of the earliest and most successful vaccination campaigns in the world, with some two million doses administered since late December in a population of more than nine million.
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said last week that Israel has been “closely co-operating” with the Palestinian Authority since the beginning of the crisis and might consider sharing vaccines at some point. “But we do have to understand that our first and foremost responsibility is to vaccinate the citizens of the state of Israel,” he told The Associated Press.
Israeli and international rights groups say Israel is required to provide vaccines under international law related to military occupation. Critics point to the fact that hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers in the West Bank are eligible for the vaccine because they are Israeli citizens, while the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the territory are not.