A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) health official announced on Saturday that the PA would receive the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines within two weeks, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The official, Kamal al-Shakhra, told a news briefing in Ramallah that the PA “ministry of health” has contacted the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure that Palestinian Arabs receive vaccines.
The “ministry” also contacted several international companies which produce the vaccines, and asked for speedy delivery, he added.
The vaccines are scheduled to start within two weeks, said al-Shakhra, who said the “health ministry” had also contacted the WHO to acquire screening devices for testing the new strain of coronavirus.
"The epidemic situation in Palestine is catastrophic and heading to the most difficult and dangerous," al-Shakhra warned.
Earlier this month, PA officials announced that they expect to receive four million coronavirus vaccines from Russia next month.
The first stage of the rollout will include 150,000 doses to vaccinate essential workers including medical staff, security services and the media personnel.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in PA-assigned territories in March, 148,540 cases have been diagnosed. There have been 1,406 deaths and 123,121 have recovered.