Israel to send Palestinians 1m Covid-19 vaccine doses

TEL AVIV REUTERS June 18-   Israel will send at least 1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the Palestinian Authority (PA) under a deal to share shots, officials said on Friday, in a boost for the Palestinians’ vaccination campaign in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.   

 Under the terms of the deal, announced by new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office, the PA agreed to give Israel a reciprocal number of doses from one of its own shipments due to arrive later this year.   

 The vaccine deal was among initial policy moves towards the Palestinians by Bennett since he was sworn in on Sunday, replacing veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu.   

 “Israel will transfer to the Palestinian Authority 1-1.4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine,” a joint statement from Bennett’s office and the health and defence 
ministries said.   

 The Pfizer-BioNTech doses earmarked for transfer “will expire soon”, the statement said, and they were “approved in light of the fact that Israel’s vaccine stock meets its needs today.”