WORLD / MID-EAST
Gaza Strip kicks off COVID-19 vaccination campaign
Published: Feb 23, 2021 09:39 AM

A Palestinian health worker receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Gaza City, Feb. 22, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)


 

Medical workers unload COVID-19 vaccines from a truck at Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Feb. 21, 2021. (Photo: Xinhua)


 
The Hamas-run health ministry launched a vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip on Monday, to inoculate medical staff who have been in the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus.

Those who are vulnerable to the virus, especially the elderly as well as patients with chronic diseases, will also be vaccinated, Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman of the ministry, said at a press conference held in Gaza city.

Al-Qidra added that the vaccination campaign came after the Gaza health ministry received two batches of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines.

"The first one was a batch of 2,000 doses, dispatched on Wednesday by the Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank through the Israeli-controlled commercial crossing of Kerem Shalom," he said.

The second one was a batch of 20,000 doses, funded by the United Arab Emirates. It arrived in the Gaza Strip on Sunday through the Rafah border crossing between the coastal enclave and Egypt, he explained.

Former Palestinian ministers and dozens of medical staff were vaccinated at Shuhadaa al-Remal medical center in Gaza city.

Jawwad al-Tibi, a former Palestinian health minister, was vaccinated at the medical center. He told Xinhua that it is very important for the medical staff to be vaccinated to protect themselves from the infection and its consequences.

Hamas officials said that the arrival of the coronavirus vaccines in the blockaded Strip is "an important opportunity to save Gaza's people from the spread of the virus in light of the lack of medical staff as well as equipment."

The Gaza Strip, which is under tight land, sea and air blockade by Israel since 2006, has recorded a total of 54,770 COVID-19 cases.