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Dec. 16, 2020
Earlier this week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that he was “continuing to work around the clock to bring in millions of vaccines.” And in fact, the campaign to vaccinate Israelis against COVID-19 is scheduled to begin shortly. The size of the population, the existence of a suitable logistical infrastructure for storing and transporting the vaccines at the requisite low temperatures, and an effective HMO system put Israel in a better position to conduct a broad, speedy national vaccination campaign compared to other countries – and even more so compared to territories like the West Bank and Gaza.
While in Israel people are debating whether to be vaccinated, in the West Bank and Gaza it isn’t clear where they will get vaccines from, when they will get them, and who will pay for them. “We’re in a state of uncertainty; it isn’t clear when vaccines will arrive in quantities that can serve most of the population,” said a senior official of the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah.