Coronavirus vaccine (illustrative)
Coronavirus vaccine (illustrative)iStock

Bloomberg has accused Israel of failing to work to vaccinate the Palestinian Authority's residents against coronavirus, while doing nothing with the 100,000 doses it ordered from Moderna.

Although Israel currently has the highest percentage of vaccinated individuals in the world, the percentage of people under 50 years of age who have received the vaccine remains low. However, over 41% of Israel's 9.3 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and over 26% of its population has received both doses.

"Thanks to steady Pfizer shipments, much of the only delivery from Moderna, totaling around 100,000 doses, remains in cold storage," Bloomberg quoted Eli Gilad, a senior Health Ministry official, as saying.

"The amount of Moderna in Israel is very small," Gilad told Bloomberg, explaining that "it isn't worth putting another vaccine into circulation when the country is using millions of Pfizer doses."

The site quoted Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch (Likud) as saying that Israel currently has no plan to vaccinate the Palestinian Authority Arabs who work in pre-1967 Israel.

However, Israel has already transferred 2,000 Moderna doses to the Palestinian Authority, and is expected to send another 3,000 doses in the near future. "But for the most part, Israel is brushing off calls to provide vaccines for Palestinians," Bloomberg claimed.

Also last month, it was announced that the Palestinian Authority would purchase 100,000 doses of the Russian vaccine, with Russia donating an additional 5,000 doses. In addition, Israel provided several hundred doses of vaccine to both the Palestinian Authority and Gaza.

However, as former Ambassador Alan Baker pointed out in a recent interview with Arutz Sheva, Israel is in no way obligated to deliver vaccines to Palestinian Arabs or to residents of Gaza.

Israeli Arabs, including those residing in eastern Jerusalem, are being vaccinated as have almost all Arabs in Israeli prisons, including terrorists.

The Moderna vaccines were deliverd in January, and can remain in storage for six months. They are expected to be used eventually, Gilad said.

Last month, it was announced that the Moderna doses would be used by the IDF to inoculate soldiers.