Israel to start vaccinating prisoners next week
Both Israeli and Palestinian prisoners will be included in the country's national vaccination drive.
Israel will administer COVID-19 vaccinations to prisoners starting next week, the health minister confirmed on Thursday, following a wave of criticism from human rights groups and Israel’s own president that failure to do so would violate the detainees’ basic rights.
Israel’s public security minister, Amir Ohana, had ordered the Israeli Prison Service not to vaccinate detainees, including Palestinian security prisoners. Ohana had called for vaccinations to be given only to prison guards.
In a letter to Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin raised concerns that the directive ran counter to Israel’s “sacred Jewish and Democratic values.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday urged his rival, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to intervene, writing in an emergency appeal that “beyond being illegal, this move is also impeding national efforts to battle the coronavirus."
