Dima Bitar News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

81 shares East Jerusalemites receive COVID-19 vaccine injections at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem Old City on February 26, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90) In a quiet schoolyard in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, a handful of Palestinian residents made small talk as they waited their turn to be vaccinated Saturday. “Have you signed up to get vaccinated, Ahmad?” someone called from a balcony overlooking the area to a friend down in the yard. His friend yelled back: “I just got my first shot!” and flashed two thumbs up. Issawiya, one of East Jerusalem’s poorest nei...

Israel has been making headlines as a vaccine rollout machine as it seeks to become the first country to reach communitywide immunity. But to reach that milestone, a major hurdle has to be cleared: increasing vaccination levels among its Arab minority. Indeed, while over 75% of Jewish citizens over the age of 60 have already been vaccinated, the figure among Arabs is just 43%. Changing those numbers is less a logistical challenge than it is one of persuasion. Keeping some Israeli Arabs away from vaccination centers, for instance, are rumors on social media fueling mistrust of the vaccine�...

241 shares A relatively empty coronavirus vaccine dispenser in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem, January 5, 2021 (Aaron Boxerman/The Times of Israel) The least crowded coronavirus vaccination center in Israel might be in East Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood. On Tuesday morning, the clinic began dispensing Covid-19 vaccines — but it was nearly empty, bereft of people waiting to be immunized. Acknowledging that only a few had signed up for shots, clinic director Dr. Mazen Daana estimated that it would take at least a week before people began to show up. “We’re trying to get the wo...