Palestinian Authority calls off vaccine deal with Israel
The PA said Friday that it wouldn't accept the Pfizer vaccines provided by Israel because the doses were too close to expiring.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Friday called off a deal with Israel to receive 1 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, which Ramallah said were nearly expired.
“The ministry found that the vaccines we received today from Israel did not meet the specifications, so the government decided to return them,” Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kail said.
"They told us the expiration date was in July or August, which would allow lots of time for use,” al-Kail said. "But (the expiration) turned out to be in June. That's not enough time to use them, so we rejected them.”
Hours earlier on Friday, the Israeli government and the PA announced a deal that would have involved Israel sending 1.4 million Pfizer vaccines to the PA in return for receiving a similar shipment from Ramallah in September and October. A statement from the office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the vaccines would “expire soon.”
