World News | Palestinian Officials Begin Vaccination of High School Students

Ramallah, Aug 30 (AP) Palestinian health officials have begun vaccinating high school students between ages 16 to 18 in the occupied West Bank with a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Gaza health authorities are expected to begin vaccinating the same age range later this week as part of an expected two-week blitz of all 255,000 secondary school students in the West Bank and Gaza.

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The Health Ministry says at least 843,500 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have received a single dose of the vaccine, and more than 452,400 people have received two doses.

New infections have risen sharply in the West Bank following the emergence of the highly infectious delta variant.

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Last week, Palestinian health officials in Gaza and the West Bank received 500,000 doses of Moderna vaccine donated by the United States through COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative.

But the territories remain far behind neighbouring Israel. Less than half the population of the West Bank has received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine while in Gaza the figure is around 15 per cent.

Israel, which launched one of the most successful vaccine campaigns, has faced international criticism for being slow to provide the Palestinians with vaccines.

It says that previous diplomatic agreements mean that Israel is not responsible for vaccinating the Palestinians. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)